KADUNA State Governor Mallam Nasir El-Rufai has stirred the hornet’s nest, with his warning that foreigners should not interfere in the conduct of the general elections.
The Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) yesterday threatened to pull out of the peace accord it signed
with other parties before the National Peace Committee (NPC) chaired by
former Head of State Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar.
The opposition
party hinged its decision on the “death threats” issued by the governor,
according to it, to officials of the United States (U.S.), United
Kingdom (U.K.) and the European Union (E.U.).
But the Presidency dismissed it all as a storm in a tea cup. “There is nothing more to sneeze at”, it said.
Besides, the governor denied calling for violence.
Also
yesterday, the EU Election Observer Mission (EOM) said its men were in
Nigeria on the invitation of the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) and that they will remain in the country to monitor
the elections billed for February 16 (presidential/National) and March 2
(governorship/state Assembly).
Speaking on an NTA live programme
El-Rufai was reported to have threatened the foreign nationals who
might interfere with Nigeria’s upcoming elections with violent attacks.
“Those
that are calling for anyone to come and intervene in Nigeria, we are
waiting for the person that would come and intervene, they would go back
in body bags,” he was quoted as saying.
The governor, however,
explained himself yesterday, insisting that his comments were not in any
way calls for violence, but a defence of Nigeria’s sovereignty.
El-Rufai
said he merely stood up for Nigeria’s dignity as against those who
would traduce their country and reduce it to a colony in their vain
quest for power.
In a statement last night, the Presidency said:
“The Federal Government under President Muhammadu Buhari would cooperate
with election observers and would not let the international community
down in the conduct of the coming elections.
“The Presidency
assures Nigerians and the international community that the President
would do everything within his power to ensure free, fair and credible
elections in the country.
“We have taken note of the
clarification to a reported earlier statement by the Governor of Kaduna
State, Nasir El-Rufa’i concerning opposition call for foreign
interference in our domestic affairs and to say that latest statement by
him should rest the issue for good. There is nothing more to sneeze at.
The Governor spoke strongly in defense of of national interest. It is
clear that El-Rufa’i, our party the APC and all its candidates have
reposed their faith in democracy through general elections. They are all
of the view that there is no place for violence against local people or
foreign citizens in our midst.
“Opposition PDP ought to
own up to the mistakes of their own policies for 16 years which have
led the country to a sorry pass that has cost lives, jobs and growth
instead of dwelling on diversionary issues.”
The PDP’s threat was
issued at a news conference in Abuja. Its spokesman Kola Ologbondiyan
described El-Rufai’s comments as inimical to peaceful, free and fair
elections.
He said: “The PDP is left with no option than to
consider a review of its signatory in the National Peace Accord, if no
action is immediately taken to curb this trend.”
But a pro-Buhari
group, the Buhari Media Organisation (BMO), said neither the PDP nor
its presidential candidate, was genuinely committed to any peace deal.
According to the BMO, PDP’s presidential candidate signed the peace accord reluctantly.
The
main opposition party called on the international community to
immediately impose a travel ban on El-Rufai for what it described as the
inciting comments against peaceful elections.
Ologbodiyan also called on the Gen. Abdulsalami to summon El-Rufai on the threat.
He
said: “The PDP holds that any situation that seeks to allow the APC to
abuse the tenets of the accord will definitely force our party to review
our signatory to the peace process.
Read also: Lagos, Kwara, Kogi, others get new police chiefs
“We
therefore call on the NPC to immediately summon El-Rufai on his
inflammatory remarks against peaceful election in our country.
“In
that regard, we might have no option left than to allow our members to
defend their votes with whatever that is available to them.
“This
country belongs to all of us and no individual or group, no matter how
highly placed, can subjugate other citizens, or seek to appropriate any
sort of absolutism to himself.”
The PDP also kicked against what
it described as an alleged plot by the police authority to redeploy
Kayode Egbetokun as Commissioner of Police to the Kwara State Command.
The
opposition party alleged closeness of Egbetokun to a section of the
leadership of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC).
This,
according to the PDP, might lead to Egbetokun taking sides in the
ongoing supremacy tussle between the PDP and the APC chapters in Kwara
State.
Ologbondiyan said: “This is in line with plans by the
Buhari Presidency and the APC to effect a mass deployment of top
security officers, particularly the police, to intimidate, harass and
manhandle Nigerians that will not support the self-succession bid of
President Muhammadu Buhari as well as aiding APC thugs to snatch ballot
boxes and orchestrate violence in the elections.
“Nigerians are
aware of how CP Kayode Egbetokun was posted to Lagos State by the former
Inspector-General of Police, Idris Ibrahim, to serve the same partisan
interest and how that posting was stopped by the new IGP Adamu Mohammed.
Now, he is being redeployed to Kwara State for the same ignoble plot.
“It
is necessary to state that the PDP is a party of peace and we are
committed to the peace accord. However, the deployment of Kayode
Egbetokun as Kwara CP directly negates the principle of the Peace Accord
and can only hurt the fragile peace that currently exists in Kwara
state.
“We wish to remind the acting Inspector General, Adamu
Mohammed, that his acceptability among Nigerians across party line was
based on the pedigree, which was presented to Nigerians before his
appointment.
“These pedigree and exposure place on his shoulders,
the responsibility to be just, firm, equitable and professional in the
discharge of his duties. We therefore urge him not to allow his
reputation to be mired in controversial political activities.”
The party called on the National Peace Committee to note the alleged infractions by the APC and its leaders to the peace accord.
Source:- Thenationonlineng
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