National Leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has reacted to the statement credited to President Muhammadu Buhari calling on law enforcement agencies to be ‘ruthless to ballot snatchers’ in the 2019 general elections, Igbere TV reports.
Igbere TV reports that President Buhari, on Monday, during the emergency national caucus meeting of the APC at the party secretariat in Abuja, said he has directed security agencies to be ruthless to anyone found wanting during the elections.
“I will never use my powers to rig election. I don’t need to. I won’t disrepect Nigerians. We want a process that will allow Nigerians to choose freely. I have gone round the country, with what I saw, I have no reason to rig. INEC must behave responsibly and realize that they’re not the only stakeholders, the military and the police will be well mobilized to stamp out rigging and thuggery, any state or group of people who think they can disrupt this process will do so at the risk of their own lives,” Buhari said.
Reacting, however, Mr. Tinubu said Buhari never ordered security agencies to shoot Nigerians, and insisted that the President was misinterpreted.
He said that the President at the meeting only reinforced that those involved in ballot box snatching will be doing it at the risk of their lives.
According to him: “I was in that meeting; the president was just reinforcing the fact that if you are out there snatching ballot boxes and causing destruction, you are at risk of your own life. Whatever happens to you; No President will give an order that his own citizens should be shot summarily, No! No, its okay, emotions are running high these days. Any individual including myself can be misinterpreted.
“These are not his words; he is a law abiding person and he understands categorically and clearly what rule of law is and the lives of individual citizens that he is in that office to protect.
“Now, let me run this; he has been fighting Boko Haram, kidnappers and all these before this election. Did you hear him asking them to be shot and executed summarily?”
On the resumption of campaigns by political parties, the former Lagos governor said: “By law we should continue to energise our people; it depends on our resources.
“Because the Electoral Act allows us to do that and ask led us to stop campaigning only 24 hours before the actual election. And once you changed the date to Feb. 23, you have given us the opening to campaign and energise.
“If you a garden and you don’t nourish with water, the grass will remain dormant; we don’t want our party to remain dormant.
“This is ability of leadership to convert adversity to opportunity and prosperity and that’s it; that’s what we must do.”
Asked if the postponement has cast doubt on the credibility of INEC, he said: “It depends on how it is handled and the process. How the process is managed; you can convert a crisis–a situation of adversity to an opportunity and progress.
“The INEC, under the law, they are empowered to postpone, cancel and do whatever is necessary to ensure free and fair election. No party other the anger, the disappointment, no party can reverse that. So, we are ready for Feb. 23.”
