Tinubu plotting mayhem to shift ballot by four weeks, he says
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Bola Tinubu is scheming behind the scenes to get the election postponed despite Muhammadu Buhari approving a Transition Council to facilitate his hand over on 29 May, Atiku Abubakar has alleged.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate said the All Progressive Congress (APC) presidential candidate has convinced National Assembly (NASS) members to reconvene from recess and provoke mayhem that will achieve his aim.
The APC countered by restating its readiness for the ballot, dismissing reports of it working clandestinely to get the vote postponed by four weeks.
But Atiku insisted through PDP National Publicity Secretary Debo Ologunagba that APC lawmakers plan to reconvene the NASS under the guise of addressing issues of national importance in order to use incendiary remarks to further heat up the polity and derail the election.
Ologunagba alleged in a statement issued in Abuja this is the latest in the series of orchestrated schemes by the APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) to scuttle the vote and jeopardise Nigeria’s democracy.
“The PDP [knows] of the moves by the Tinubu Presidential Campaign to allegedly use certain compromised APC members in both Senate and House of Representatives to create tension in the polity and derail the conduct of the elections,” Ologunagba said.
“There is credible intelligence of how the APC presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, allegedly directed his cronies in the APC leadership of both chambers of the National Assembly (NASS) to reconvene plenary and use the legislative chambers as platforms to promote incendiary speeches, with a view to overheating the polity and making it appear unconducive to conduct elections in the country.
“This is in furtherance of the alleged scheme by the APC Presidential Campaign to use all means, including APC leadership of the National Assembly, to orchestrate security situations that will justify its reported demands to postpone elections as a prelude to the derailment of the electoral process, having realised that it has no chance in the elections.”
The PDP said if indeed the APC leadership of both NASS chambers is concerned about naira scarcity, it should publicly condemn the reported plot by APC leaders and its PCC to swap N22.5 billion in old N1,000 notes for new ones in Kano and Lagos to buy votes.
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APC denies scheming to postpone election
APC spokesman Felix Morka countered that “the report is blatantly false and reckless, and bears no iota of credibility. Beyond its loud headline, the report offers no substantive justifying content aside from its intended purpose of misleading and causing needless anxiety and speculations regarding the upcoming elections.’’
The election is of extreme national importance to Nigeria’s security and corporate integrity, he explained in a statement, as reported by Vanguard.
“On record, under President Muhammadu Buhari’s leadership, our party continues to wage the most extensive and vibrant campaign in the history of our nascent democracy seeking to elect our visionary presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, his running mate, Kashim Shettima, and our party’s governorship, national and state legislative flag bearers into office.
“This is in direct contrast to the lackluster and incoherent campaign of the opposition parties that have placed nothing before the electorate except their vile merchandise of lies, innuendoes and hate propaganda against the APC ….
“Buhari has left no one in doubt as to his unshakable commitment to bequeathing a befitting legacy of credible, free and fair election, and has enacted unprecedented electoral reform and innovation that has placed our country in good stead to deliver 2023 general election and bolster our democratic consolidation.
“We stand ready for the general election, and remain confident that Nigerians will overwhelmingly renew our mandate in a peaceful, free and credible electoral contest.”