Buhari accepts N45 million gift of presidential nomination form

FILE: How Buhari intends to implement Executive Order 6—Presidency source

Buhari accepts N45 million gift of presidential nomination form

President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria has accepted from the gift of N45 million Naira presidential nomination form today.

A group of Buhari’s supporters reportedly bought the form for Buhari who presidency said could not afford the cost of the form. The president has been criticized following the gift.

Buhari’s campaign spokesman, Festua Keyamo, said he was extremely happy that Buhari accepted the form. “We were extremely proud to present the Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms to the President today. And we are extremely grateful he accepted them from us”, said Keyamo in a tweet.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) alleged the use of a shadowy group as a front to purchase the N45 million All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential nomination form for President Muhammadu Buhari, describing it as a worn-out stunt, smacking of fraud and worsening the already battered image of the President.

The party said President Buhari can no longer play the pro-poor gimmick which his followers have always presented to Nigerians.

In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP said already, people are daily confronted by the flaunting of affluence and material wealth by the President and those around him, while betraying and abandoning millions of poor Nigerians who, unfortunately, put their trust in him in 2015.

“Nigerians are aware that the very expensive personal effects, including posh jewelries daily paraded by his close relatives betrayed the gimmick of using an unregistered group, pieced together to execute  another failed pro-poor stunt to sway Nigerians.

“Moreover, the PDP urges the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to note that the purchase of the N45 million form by the group directly violates section 91 (9) of the Electoral Act which provides that  “no individual or other entity shall donate more than One million naira (#1,000,000) to any candidate.”

Since President Buhari has not publicly disowned the purchase of the form by the group, the PDP charges INEC to, within the next 24 hours, hold him culpable and make him to face the appropriate sanctions for the violation of electoral laws.

Finally, it is unfortunate that President Buhari and his handlers, in their desperation to hang on to power, even when they have been rejected, have reduced themselves to objects of public ridicule with their many bloopers ahead of the 2019 general elections”, it said.

Meanwhile, the party has cautioned the ‘factional’ National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, to rein in his party thugs, who the APC detailed to disrupt activities at the PDP National Secretariat, Abuja.

“The PDP said while it can understand that the APC has been distraught over the renewed surge of Nigerians to the platform of our repositioned party of choice; which signposts our inevitable victory in the 2019 election, the ruling party’s resort to banditry and violent attack on our secretariat is a handshake taken beyond the elbow and will not be tolerated.

The whole world witnessed with dismay, how APC thugs, brandishing their party’s famished brooms and charms; armed with machetes and other dangerous weapons stormed our national secretariat which has become a beehive of activities and attacked and wounded our members and supporters before they were dispelled by security operatives.

The PDP had repeatedly warned against APC’s proclivity for violence and unprovoked attacks, but we never imagined that their desperation for power will drive them to the insanity of attacking our national secretariat.

Intelligence report available to the PDP shows that the thugs were assembled and mobilized from the National Secretariat of the APC. 

We therefore charge security agencies, who also witnessed this attack, to immediately investigate this development, arrest and prosecute all individuals and officials of APC connected with the attack.

Moreover, the unleashing of thugs by the APC against our law-abiding party members and supporters, is particularly revealing of those behind some of the violent attacks on innocent Nigerians in various parts of the country.