Beware of Buhari’s Antics, PDP, CUPP Tell Nigerians

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP),on Monday alleged that  President Muhammadu Buhari’s posturing on supplementary elections in some states was a fresh subterfuge to divert public attention from the All Progressives Congress  (APC’s) rigging plot ahead of the March 23,  governorship supplementary polls.

PDP and CUPP also described the President’s statement as a direct confession that the Presidency used its overbearing influence to rig the February 23 presidential election.

The President Buhari had on Sunday washed his hands off any interference in the impending supplementary polls.

PDP and the coalition political parties called on  Nigerians, especially those in states where the supplementary elections have been scheduled to hold to be wary of the antics of the Buhari Presidency, as it has never been committed to free, fair and credible election.

The PDP, in a statement issued on Monday by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, said that Buhari cannot exonerate himself of the harm inflicted on the country’s polity by the deployment of soldiers in the 2019 general elections, as nobody deploys the military except the President and Commander-in-Chief.

He stated: “The presidency’s confession that APC members are mounting pressure on President Buhari to help them to rig the supplementary elections further confirms the Buhari Presidency’s manipulative and rigging capacity, including militarisation of the electoral process, instigating of violence and alteration of results, as were freely used  by the APC in the Presidential election.”

“Nigerians can recall that ahead of the Presidential and National Assembly elections, President Buhari had promised to allow for a free, fair, transparent and credible process, only for his Presidency and party, the APC, to engage in downright manipulations at INEC, deployment of military and thugs to intimidate and suppress voters, as well as outright alteration of results delivered from the polling units.

“Now that President Buhari, in his official capacity, has come out to state that he will not intervene in the March 23 Supplementary election; we ask, is Mr. President assuring Nigerians that any ‘soldier’ seen directly involving in the rerun election is fake and should be treated as such?” The PDP said.

It also cautioned the Independent National Electoral (NEC) officials to note that Nigerians are very eager about the outcome of the governorship supplementary elections, given that the PDP is already leading in these states. 

The party warned that Nigerians are not ready to accept any results that do not reflect the reality of our victory, which is already known to all.

The PDP also urged the military to note the import of the statement by the Presidency and steer clear of the supplementary elections.

Meanwhile, the CUPP said that the  President is playing to the gallery, because he has already interfered and ruined the gains of the electoral process.

The Spokesperson of CUPP, Ikenga Ugochinyere, while reacting to THISDAY enquiry noted that Buhari’s quest to get re-elected and the fear of defeat made him ‘desecrate the sanctity of our electoral process.’