Presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has raised the alarm over plans by some elements in the All Progressives Congress (APC) to foment violence in a few states in order to force the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to postpone Saturday’s election.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday by Atiku’s Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the PDP presidential candidate, warned that failure to hold elections on the same day across the country would be an invitation to rigging
Mr Shaibu added, “Today, there was serious violence at the Kwanar Dangora on the outskirts of Kano City. This is a state where the APC holds sway. They have already started with the violence as they did in 2019, where they forced a rerun and then used violence to win.
“We also have it on good authority that this will happen in Borno, Yobe, Kaduna. Kaduna, in particular, must be singled out because the Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has been prodding his people to disobey President Muhammadu Buhari. He has also been running from pillar to post since his plan to unleash the old naira notes on voters was scuttled by the Federal Government.”
We commend the police for arresting and arraigning the lawmaker representing Etche/Omuma Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon Ephraim Nwuzi. His utterance is evidence that the APC has a grand plan to foment violence on election day. This is their only strategy to hold on to power after failing Nigerians.”
Ebonyi, Cross River, and Imo are all traditional PDP strongholds. However, their governors are members of the APC. They know that they cannot deliver their states for Bola Tinubu, who stands no chance of winning. With vote buying now very difficult, the only option will be to suppress votes through violence.
“The police, the military, and other security agencies must therefore keep an eye on these states in order to prevent violence,” he says.