- PDP says Buhari’s order latest ruse by APC to rig elections
The President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday literally unleashed Nigerian security agencies after people who would engage in the crime of ballot-box snatching and similar electoral offences in the rescheduled presidential and and National Assembly elections coming up on Saturday February 23, 2019.
The President, while addressing a meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Caucus in Abuja, ordered security operatives to “deal ruthlessly” with anyone who attempts to snatch ballot box during the elections.
He spoke before the discussions went into a closed-door session.
Buhari said he had ordered security agencies to prepare to crack down on potential trouble makers during the rescheduled elections.
He said, , “I have briefed the law enforcement agencies and the military. They have identified the hot spots, flashpoints.
“They should be prepared to move. We have made as much arrangement as possible and resources provided as much as the country can afford.
“Anybody who decides to snatch ballot boxes or lead thugs to disturb it, maybe this is the last unlawful action you will take.
“I really gave the military and the police (order) to be ruthless. We are not going to be blamed that we want to rig election. I want Nigerians to be respected. Let them vote whoever they want across the parties.
“I am going to warn anybody who thinks he has enough influence in his locality to lead a body of thugs or to disturb the voting system, he will do it at the expense of his own life.”
The President also vowed to put machinery in place to unravel the circumstances that led to the postponement of the 2019 General Elections which was earlier scheduled to hold on Saturday, February 16 and March 2nd 2019.
According to him, it was surprising that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would come up with the excuses it gave for postponing the elections when it had all the time and resources to conduct the elections.
“I think my statement at the airport said it all and I don’t want to go into too many details.
“I told them that INEC had all the time and all the resources they wanted; they didn’t have to wait for only six hours to cancel the votes and tell us that it was impossible.
”We have to go into details to find out exactly what happened and who is responsible after the elections,”Buhari said.
He added that the decision by INEC would have been excusable if the National Assembly did not approve the funds required for the elections.
“Definitely, the reasons why certain incompetence manifested itself has to be explained to the nation. After the election, we have to know exactly what happened, and who is responsible; otherwise our efforts to make sure that this system that we voluntarily accept, is not making progress. What is the use if we accept incompetence?” he asked.
He went further to emphasise that INEC got all it wanted to succeed in the conduct of the election, recalling that theeven the National Assembly had to make necessary approvals for the umpire.
According to him, “If for example, the National Assembly refused to approve what they wanted, INEC would have had moral reasons why they couldn’t perform. If the time of four years of election was not constitutionally obeyed, the government and INEC would have a case.
“But we don’t understand the reason for this inefficiency and we have to go into details after the election to find out who is responsible.”
The President was however full of praises for the the leadership of the APC for being focused so far.
The announcement by INEC postponing the elections, few hours to the opening of polls last Saturday, had sent shock waves across the country and beyond.
However, political parties, local and international observer missions expressed dissatisfaction over the decision by INEC while calling for calm and urging Nigerians to exercise patience over the development.
The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Prince Uche Secondus, sees the president’s order to the military as a sign of desperation to cling on to power.
He said the orders to the military and the police were meant to help leaders of the APC to oppress voters.
He said the President’s remarks amounted to what he called a declaration of war on the Nigerian voters and a direct incitement against them.
“The President’s confirmation that he has directed the service chiefs to kill Nigerians is nothing but a pre-determined script hatched by the ruling party to create voter apathy and implement their result replacement plans using thugs protected by the military,” Secondus said in a statement in Abuja.
He expressed shock that a Commander-in-Chief who, he claimed, had been out of action in numerous security challenges in the country particularly “needless killings in Benue, Plateau, Zamfara etc and whose regime has recorded unprecedented bloodletting in the country would suddenly wake up threatening voters with fire and brimstone.”
“In all democracies the world over, elections are civil matters that are usually handled by civil security like police and wondered why the involvement of our military in this matter when they have enough security challenges to tackle,” he further said.
