The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has said President Muhammadu Buhari’s posturing that he would not manipulate the March 23 Governorship supplementary elections was not only a direct confession that the Presidency used its overbearing influence to rig the February 23 Presidential election, but also a fresh subterfuge to divert public attention from APC’s rigging plots ahead of the supplementary elections.
The PDP Spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan stated this in a press statement he signed on behalf of tow party.
He said the Presidency’s confession that APC members were mounting pressure on President Buhari to help them rig the supplementary elections further confirmed the Buhari Presidency’s manipulative and rigging capacity, including militarization of the electoral process, instigating of violence and alteration of results, as were freely used by the APC in the Presidential election.
The PDP therefore 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 recalled 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 in INEC, deployment of military and thugs to intimidate and suppress voters, as well as outright alteration of results delivered from the polling units.
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“President Buhari cannot exonerate himself of the harm inflicted on our polity by the deployment of soldiers in the 2019 general elections, as nobody deploys the military except the President and Commander-in-Chief.
“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 charged the military to note the import of the statement by the Presidency and steer clear of the supplementary elections.
It also cautioned INEC officials to note that Nigerians are very eager about the outcome of the governorship supplementary elections, given that the PDP was already leading in these states and as such would not accept any results that do not reflect the reality of the victory, which is already known to all.
