• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Real reasons INEC postponed election- Buba Galadima

Buba Galadima

Following the outcry that greeted the postponement of Saturday’s election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by one week, the National Chairman of the Reformed All Progressives Congress (R-APC), has said that President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) had planned to force INEC to stagger elections in about ten states, in order to use the security forces to rig the elections.

Galadima, who is also a spokesman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), told BDSUNDAY on Saturday that the Federal government and the APC have shot themselves in the foot by this disingenuous action. He noted that in all his political life, he has never seen where Nigerians from all walks of life have agreed that the Buhari government must go and that is why Buhari is desperate to cling to power at all cost.

He also alleged that the President and his party have planned to compromise the election using configured Card Readers and ballot papers including the Permanent Voters Card (PVCs), which they contracted to the APC  Senatorial candidate for Niger East.

“The Senatorial candidate of Niger East is Muhammadu Sani Musa; he is the owner of Active technologies and Art technologies. He was the one that brought the Card Readers as a contractor and he was the one that configured the Card Reader as a member of the APC. It is also he that was given the contract at the instance of government to print the ballot papers as well as the PVC, which means he must have compromised the system. Is that free and fair election? These are the kinds of things they are doing, it is just God that is exposing them.

 “And they thought that by postponing the election they will overstretch the opposition because yesterday they called all bank MDs and gave them instructions to block certain accounts. They thought that when it is postponed we will have no resources to mobilise again to defeat them while they will use the Central Bank to channel money to the states like the one they did in Niger where they wired about N550 million to a coded account that has no owner. So, if they think that they are taking any advantage of the situation, they will infuriate Nigerians the more and Nigerians will vote them out.

“We know the undercurrents of what is happening.  We learnt of secret memos written by the NSA by the Attorney-General and even by the Minister of aviation, telling INEC that they should not take materials to certain states because the weather is not good. Is that his responsibility to communicate with the INEC?

“INEC should also know that by law one week to elections, all elections sensitive materials must be in the custody of the central bank branches in all the states of the federation. Why did they not do that even after the INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, came on air to say they are ready for the elections?” he asked.

Galadima however, praised the INEC chair for standing his ground and stopping government from forcing staggered election on Nigeria, saying “Their thinking is that they will hold elections in 26 states and know the figures and if they are defeated by Atiku by so, so margin they will deploy soldiers, police and other para-military people to the remaining 10 states and write figures override him.

“This is what they planned but it has boomeranged. This should show them that we have seen through them and that God is not with them and I also thanked the International community for standing firm to reject staggered election that is why it took INEC all these hours to decide up to 2am,” he said.

He stressed that the opposition has already taken advantage of the situation as many Nigerians especially those who traveled for the election are already disenchanted with the APC government and will vote them out next week.

 “We have already taken advantage of the situation. Take somebody who has travelled to Calabar or Uyo or Maiduguri to vote and you suddenly said that the election is postponed; will he vote for you again?  They thought that when thy overstretch us we will have no money to pay our agents. I am sure that agents and other people will volunteer to do their job even without money,” he said.

 

Innocent Odoh, Abuja