The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says President Muhammad Buhari is seeking ways to frustrate the 2019 elections, having realised that he would lose.
In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, the party said the president’s request to the National Assembly to vire N242 billion already approved for other projects in the 2018 budget to finance the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other agencies ahead of 2019 election “is a booby trap deliberately set to drag the elections into a financial controversy and ultimately subvert the entire process.”
The statement called on Nigerians and the international community to note “that this request is a deliberate plot to inject disagreements in the polity, cause confusion in the electoral system and set the stage for a political crisis capable of frustrating the conduct of the elections.”
The PDP in the statement accused President Buhari of not meaning well for the nation if he could send such a request to the National Assembly knowing it was not in line with constitutional provisions and extant rules guiding legislative virement of funds already meant for constituency development projects.
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“If Mr. President meant well for the nation and had no ulterior motives, he should have sent a fresh supplementary budget to the National Assembly for whatever amount he seeks for INEC…
“President Buhari must come to terms with the fact that Nigerians are eager for the 2019 general election and are not ready to be taken for a ride by any person whatsoever, in their quest for a new President come May 29, 2019,” the statement reads in part.
The party added that nothing should stop the 2019 elections and that the process must be “credible, free and fair.”
The PDP called on the president and his advisers to seek other political survival strategy and desist from actions capable of dragging the nation into an unnecessary electoral crisis.
