With barely six weeks to the 2019
general elections, the Coalition of United Political Parties, CUPP, the
umbrella body of opposition parties in the country, has again raised alarm over
what it called plot by the Presidency to rig the polls.
The coalition said an unholy
collaboration among the trio of the Presidency; the ruling All Progressives
Congress, APC, and security forces might culminate in the declaration of fake
results.
According to CUPP, this may elicit mass protest which the government will attempt to quell with state power.
But the APC, in a swift reaction, said it would not waste its time responding to the CUPP’s claims. APC National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Lanre Isa-Onilu, said in a statement: ‘’CUPP can say anything; they can take a full page in a newspaper. I won’t be replying them.’’
“The Coalition of United
Political Parties has raised alarm over the unholy collaboration between the
Presidency, the ruling APC and the leadership of the Nigerian security forces
to rig the 2019 Presidential elections, announce fake results and deploy lethal
force to quell the expected popular resistance.
This has come to light with the
unprecedented move of the Nigerian Army to put the entire country on military
lock down from 28th December, 2018 to 28th February, 2019 in a manoeuvre termed
Operation Python Dance III.
“We hold that by law, it is only
the President and Commander-In-Chief that can deploy the military. We wonder
why the President acknowledges that failure and inability of the Inspector
General of Police, IGP, to maintain law and order by deploying the military in
one breathe and yet in another is neck deep in the plot to extend the tenure of
the IGP.
“If there was really any genuine
desire to checkmate those plotting violence during the elections, why was the
exercise not extended to after the governorship elections? The desire of the Presidency
is just to use the security forces to foist an unpopular President Buhari on
the people,” the statement read in part.
The coalition also alleged plot
by the electoral umpire to allow itself to be compromised in the conduct of the
polls. It said:, “Our credible intelligence also have shown that apart from the security plots, several
compromised Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC officials have been
recruited by Hajia Amina Zakari and are currently undergoing special training.
“Police Special Forces are also
undergoing drills on what to do and we shall expose them if they are deployed
for election rigging exercise.
“No wonder the President is
adamant on unlawfully retaining the Inspector General of Police beyond his
legal tenure. The Special Forces are to be deployed to the various states under
the command of selected APC chieftains who shall be issuing directives on what
should be done. We shall soon obtain the list of deployments and the APC
leaders who shall be in command and we shall make same available to the
people.”
The group called on President
Buhari to prioritize the lives of Nigerians being lost in large numbers in
Zamfara, Plateau, Southern Kaduna, Borno and several other parts of the country
rather be fixated on his re-election bid.
“President Buhari has abandoned
governance and is only concentrating on the elections and the value of human
life is at its cheapest since this 4th Republic. It sends chills down the spine
of all discerning Nigerians how a President’s priority is to deploy security
for the purpose of elections when he has vehemently refused to deploy security
to halt the activities of the bandits in the killing fields of Zamfara,
Southern Kaduna and Northern Borno.
“We urge them, therefore, to
concentrate effort on their primary responsibility which is to protect the
territorial integrity of Nigeria and refuse to accede to the unpatriotic desire
of politicians as anyone who yields to such unpatriotic desires will be held
personally responsible in the fullness of time.
“The Opposition Code 20 which
will soon be officially launched will be in full gear by the election date and
no acts of rigging will be condoned or tolerated.”
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
APC won't be able to say anything when CUPP is stating the obvious.
ReplyDeleteWe should all support Buhari and not criticize him
ReplyDelete