PDP has raised the alarm on how the All Progressives Congress (APC)
allegedly “rented and smuggled in a crowd of aliens from Niger Republic
to populate the President’s campaign rally in Kano state.”
The party in a statement said, ‘President Buhari and the APC, in
their desperation have compromised our territorial integrity as a nation
and this portends grave danger to our national security and the
sanctity of our electoral process’.
For a nation contending with insurgency and banditry, the involvement
of mercenaries from neighboring countries in the APC rally must be
condemned by all and sundry. This is particularly against the backdrop
of claims by President Buhari that killer herdsmen ravaging our nation
are mercenaries who are infiltrating from the Sahel region.Nigerians can now see the unfolding of the plots by agents the APC to
use mercenaries from neighboring countries to precipitate crisis with
the aim of scuttling the 2019 general election, having realized that
they cannot win in a free, fair and credible election.Now we understand the weight of the submission by the National
Security Adviser (NSA) Maj. Gen. Babagana Mongunu (rtd) when he stated
recently that; “unscrupulous elements are already mobilising merchants
of violence, including armed bandits and terrorists to orchestrate
violence during the elections in several states of the federation”.Similarly, Nigerians can also decode the Minister of Information and
Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, when he stated recently that; “there is
also an international dimension to the evil plan. Some armed mercenaries
from the Niger Republic have been contracted to attack top government
functionaries, including state governors, across the North-west between
now and the elections.”Today, Nigerians need no further evidence of those planning evil against our nation.
Already, there apprehensions that miscreants who came from Niger
Republic to President Buhari’s rally are being offered accommodation in
our country by the APC to unleash violence immediately it is clear that
President Buhari is losing in the February 16 presidential election.On account of these, PDP demands an urgent and thorough investigation
into the circumstances leading to the presence of politicians and thugs
from Niger Republic at the APC presidential rally in Kano on Thursday.The APC and the Buhari Presidency must immediately explain the roles
being played by Issa Moussa, Governor of Zinder and his counterpart from
Maradi, Zakiri Umar both of the Niger Republic, who were sighted decked
in the attires and official logos of the APC, in our political affairs.Our security agencies must immediately investigate and lay in the
public domain the circumstances leading to their presence, which more or
less confirms that the APC has lost all domestic credibility and has
assumed a desperate mode.The presence of the Niger Republic Governors at President Buhari’s
rally signposts a direct assault on the credibility of the Presidential
elections. This is particularly against the backdrop of INEC’s plans to
allow Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in that country to vote in our
election, a situation that opens the way for aliens to infiltrate as
IDPs and participate in our elections.Our apprehensions are accentuated by INEC’s recent mass creation of
additional polling units which have not been properly designated and
which may be deployed for the perpetuation of monumental electoral
fraud. We note how Kano State, in 2015, delivered 1.9 million votes to
the APC presidential candidate in circumstances devoid of transparency
and credulity.Moreover, the promise by Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano state to
deliver five million votes to Presidential Buhari in the 2019 elections
is predicated on the unfettered opening of our international borders to
foreign political interests.What was the true purpose of the invitation of these foreigners to
the APC rally in Kano on Thursday? What secret deals did APC leaders
make with them at the expense of our national security?It begs the question how a Government that vilified credible
international bodies that genuinely advised on the need for a free and
fair election, as interfering in our elections, would now be spending
public resources rent political mercenaries from neighbouring countries.We know that APC’s jettisoning of our territorial integrity and
national security to hire crowds from Niger Republic is borne out of
frustration over the recent successes and massive turn out of supporters
at PDP rallies held in the North West.The spontaneous and mammoth turnouts of supporters and admirers of
the PDP as well as the people’s candidate, Atiku Abubakar, even in the
APC’s supposed strongholds in the North West states of Kaduna, Jigawa,
Katsina, Sokoto, Zamfara, Kebbi and Kano, has no doubt, discomfited the
APC and its Presidential candidate.The PDP holds that the 2019 general election is only for Nigerians.
There is no way our citizens will allow foreigners to participate in our
electoral process.We therefore call on all Nigerians irrespective of creed, ethnicity
and political affiliations to rise in total condemnation of this direct
assault on our territorial integrity as a nation. Our citizens must
henceforth be at alert and get prepared to defend the sovereignty of our
nation, which President Buhari and the APC, in their desperation, are
ready to trade away.
