Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
Ahead of the 2019 general elections, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of allegedly militarising the electoral process in the country.
The PDP National Chairman, Uche Secondus, stated this yesterday, when he received the United Nations (UN) Secretary General’s Special Envoy for West Africa and the Sahel, Mohammed Ibn Chambas at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.
Secondus said the President is allegedly compromising the military and other security agencies, so as to use them to muscle the opposition.
He appealed to the international community to intervene, so that the next general elections will be free, fair and credible, noting that anything short of a free and fair elections next will trigger crisis in the country and by extension the sub-Sahara region.
According to him, “President Buhari is not preparing for elections. He is not prepared for the rigours of any electoral exercise. Every well-intentioned politician goes out to the street to engage and persuade the people with his or her manifesto and policies, but President Buhari is not ready to engage anybody in contest of ideas; that is why he is desperate to compromise our military as a measure of limitless powers to rig.
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“The world saw how our Service Chiefs participated in President Buhari’s campaign rally. There is no way these Service Chiefs will not be pushed to resort to self-help on behalf of President Buhari and his APC in the election. The UN Security Council should note this and intervene to save our democratic process.
“President Buhari has militarised our electoral process. In the July and September governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun states respectively, in addition to various bye-elections, military equipment were rolled out to prevent the opposition from voting.
Citizens were freely manhandled, arrested and subjugated by security agents, who openly worked for the APC. Today, in Nigeria, the PDP is contesting with security forces and not with the APC.”
The PDP leader added, “also, President Buhari has compromised our Police. As we speak, the Inspector-General of Police has sealed the Akwa-Ibom State House of Assembly and seized an arm of government, just like they did in Benue State in July. Our country has been turned into a police state and there is fear everywhere.
“Similarly, our Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been annexed by the Buhari Presidency. This is the reason it has not been able to conduct any credible election in the last three and half years. Nigerians have lost confidence that INEC as presently constituted can guarantee credible polls in 2019. We, therefore, demand for the resignation of the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu and Mrs. Amina Zakari, who is a niece of Mr. President.”
Speaking earlier, Chambas urged political stakeholders in the country to play by the rules in order to ensure a smooth electoral process in the 2019 polls.
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