PDP alleges Buhari will use military to rig 2019 elections

The Peoples Democratic Party on Saturday alleged that Nigeria president Muhammadu Buhari was plotting to use the planned nationwide ‘Operation Python Dance’ of the military to intimidate voters and rig the 2019 presidential election.

“Further investigation revealed that agents of the Buhari Presidency are working in cohort with some compromised top officials of the Prof. Mahmood Yakubu-led Independent National Electoral Commission to use soldiers to provide cover for diversion of electoral materials,” PDP spokesman Kola Ologbodiyan said in a statement.

Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Tukur Buratai, had said the military exercise slated to commence from January 1, 2019 till February 28 would be used to combat security challenges before, during and after the 2019 general election.

The opposition party opined that the military operation would be used to ”aid All Progressives Congress (APC) agents in their plan to unleash violence and disrupt the electoral process in areas where the PDP is winning.”

Ologbodinyan said the use of the military was an act of desperation of the Buhari presidency to foist a siege mentality on the nation ahead of the 2019 general elections.

“Our investigation shows that part of the plot is to use the military operation as a subterfuge to unleash heavy security presence to intimidate, harass and instil fear in voters in PDP strongholds across the country and pave the way for the allocation of fictitious votes to President Buhari and the APC,” Ologbodinyan said.

He stated that the Buhari administration had betrayed the public trust with the use of military operation during an election period against the tenets of a democratic state.

“Our nation is a democratic state and we are not in a state of emergency that requires the militarization of our electoral process.”

He urged the military to “foreclose any attempt by the Buhari Presidency to use it to set our country on fire.”

Ologbodinyan added that Nigerians desire at this point is to go to t peacefully elect a new President to reposition the nation and not another round of electoral crisis.

He stated that everybody in Nigeria and world over, including the Presidency, knew the direction the 2019 presidential election tide is flowing.

He added that Nigerians are eager for a new president, having lost confidence in Buhari, due to his alleged failures in governance.