- The PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, faults President Muhammadu Buhari’s warning to ballot box snatchers in the coming elections
- Atiku accuses the president of inciting violence in the country ahead of the general elections
- The presidential candidate says Buhari is confusing his current office with when he was president under military rule
The presidential candidate of the People Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has accused the APC of planning to use the military to intimidate voters in order to pave the way for rigging during the general elections.
Atiku made the allegation when he accused President Muhammadu Buhari of showing complete disregard to the laws of this country following the president’s statement that ballot box snatchers would be doing so at their own risk.
Atiku in a statement on Monday, February 18, through his special assistant on public communication, Phrank Shaibu, described Buhari’s statement as inciting violence ahead of the general elections, Daily Trust reports.
READ ALSO: Nigerian Army reacts to Buhari's statement on dealing with ballot box snatchers
The presidential candidate also opposed the plan by the federal government to deploy soldiers for the 2019 general elections, noting that such military deployment was an anomaly in a democracy.
“We were shocked to hear General Buhari live on national television threatening to kill people for an offense where no such proscription exists under law. The last time we looked, the death-penalty was not a sanction of the 2010 Election Act. In fact, threatening people with death in the context of an election is incitement to electoral violence, which is an offense under that Act,” he said.
"The reason the APC-controlled federal government will want to deploy the military is not to stem the rising cases of violence, but for the simple reason that the APC wants to use the military to intimidate the opposition and pave the way for rigging."
Atiku said Buhari is confusing his current office with when he was president under military rule, adding that the president is not a reformed democrat as he claimed.
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“Once again, General Buhari is showing his true colours and complete disregard for our constitution and the laws of this country. He is getting confused with when he was President under military rule. His fig leaf of being a ‘reformed democrat’ has been blown away by this latest statement leaving his democratic credentials as naked as the day he was born," Atiku said.
Meanwhile, the national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has explained and given details concerning the order to security agencies issued on Monday, February 18 by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Tinubu, who spoke after the national caucus of the meeting of the APC in Abuja where the president gave the instruction that ballot thieves should be ruthlessly dealt with as the country prepares for the postponed general elections.
He said the president never gave any order that citizens of the country should be shot, adding that the president’s words were misinterpreted.
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