Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has been accused of attempting to jeopardise the forthcoming presidential election in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by conniving with some officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Some concerned stakeholders, under the auspices of National Front of Nigeria (NFN) made these allegations in a press statement they issued in Abuja, yesterday. The presidential and National Assembly elections suffered a huge setback after the electoral body admitted lapses in logistics as well as plots by certain groups to hijack the exercise. According to NFN’s president, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav, a former Public Complaints commissioner, Obasanjo was in the forefront in compromising the entire process. Tsav said that the ex-president had finalised plans to rig the elections with the support of his cohorts such as Atiku Abubakar, the PDP presidential candidate and Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State.
“The evil that was planned against Nigeria by Chief Obasanjo and his protégés – Atku, Wike and others is beyond imagination. It was as if he has sensed that Nigerians will vote in a way that will disgrace him with his failed alliances and lying letter so he decided the only way to save face is to manipulate the elections by compromising the umpire,” Tsav said.
“A last minute realisation of the crimes that have been committed in INEC is what jolted its chairman out of his lethargy to postpone the polls in the hope that remedial actions can still be taken to reverse the damage that the PDP, Obasanjo and Atiku have done to its credibility. “Before now, there have been several calls on these men to desist from their acts that are capable of plunging the country into crisis but it is now apparent that they are not amenable to reason. Instead of retracing their steps they have approached their western allies to mount undue pressure on INEC while unfairly accusing the government of the country. They are activating their international enforcers to declare the elections as fraudulent while ignoring the capacity of this irresponsible move to cause widespread unrest. The media is also replete with fake news they are pushing to the effect that the elections would be rigged by the ruling party while in reality, they, the PDP, are the ones that are desperate to win in the Obasanjo ‘do or die” style,” he added
The NFN, however, urged Nigerians to be more assertive in declaring the kind of country they want while ordering the immediate dismissal of the compromised INEC officials.