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The main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has denounced President Muhammadu Buhari’s death threat to ballot box snatchers saying it was “a direct call for Jungle Justice.” President Buhari read the riot act at the All Progressives Congress (APC) emergency National Caucus meeting on Monday in Abuja at the party’s national secretariat; saying any politician that decides to sponsor political thugs to cause trouble or to snatch ballot boxes in the rescheduled elections will be doing so at great risk.
“I want to warn anyone who thinks he has enough influence in his locality who tries to lead thugs to snatch ballot boxes or disturb the voting system will do so at the expense of his own life,” Buhari said during the ruling APC caucus meeting; adding that security operatives had been ordered to deal with any such persons ruthlessly.
But PDP said the president’s comment was a “plot to trigger widespread political crisis to derail our democratic process and plunge our nation into anarchy. “It is indeed a license to kill, which should not come from any leader of any civilized nation,” PDP spokesman Kola Ologbondiyan said in a statement.
“We do hope that this call by President Buhari is not a camouflage for the fake soldiers mobilized by the APC to shoot at innocent Nigerians, snatch ballot boxes and execute their rigging plans on the Election Day,” Ologbondiyan said. He also alleged that information reaching the party stated that the president has ordered the reshuffling of the INEC officials.
“Intelligence available to us shows that the Buhari Presidency has directed the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately reshuffle the Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) in order to deploy compromised officials to manipulate the electoral process in President Buhari’s favor, as they did with the police shortly before February 16,” he said.
He, therefore, asked “Nigerians and the international community to hold President Buhari personally responsible for any electoral crisis, otherwise he will as usual, claim that he was not aware of the plots and transfer the blame to Adams Oshiomhole and Rotimi Amaechi.”
The INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, Saturday morning announced the postponement of the 2019 presidential and governorship election by a week. Mahmood said the postponement was necessary due to some logistics and operational problems.
Following the postponement Buhari expressed disappointment in the Commission. “I am deeply disappointed that despite the long notice given and our preparations both locally and internationally, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) postponed the Presidential and National Assembly elections within hours of its commencement,” Buhari said in a statement on Saturday.
