Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria’s President, intends to use a military
operation code named ‘Operation Python Dance 3’ to rig the 2019
presidential election, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said.
Operation
Python Dance is a military ‘show of strength‘ exercise the Nigerian
Army used in silencing the growing influence of Indigenous People Of
Biafra (IPOB) in the South East region of the country.
The first and second versions of the operation took place in the region between 2017 and 2018.
Announcing
its planned third version on Friday, the military said the exercise
would now be conducted nationwide and would commence from January 1,
2019 and last till February 28.
The presidential election is billed to take place on February 16.
The
army said the military operation was needed to tackle already “observed
upsurge” insecurity challenges anticipated before, during and after the
2019 general election.
But kicking against the timing of the
exercise, the PDP alleged that Mr Buhari was plotting to use the planned
nationwide military exercise to legitimise his administration’s alleged
ploy of using the military to intimidate voters and rig next year’s
presidential election.
“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,” the spokesman of the
opposition party, Kola Ologbondiyan, said in a statement on Saturday.
“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, as well as aid APC
agents in their plan to unleash violence and disrupt the electoral
process in areas where the PDP is winning.
“In spanning the
military operation to February 28, 2019, the Buhari Presidency betrayed
its anticipation of public rejection or violence, which can only come
when a result that does not reflect the actual wish of the people is
announced,” he said.
Ologbondiyan, who is also the Director,
Media and Publicity, PDP Presidential Campaign Organization, said
Nigerians are eager for a new president, having lost confidence in
Buhari, due to his alleged failures in governance.
“The PDP PCO,
therefore, rejects this deliberate attempt by the Buhari Presidency to
set our military on a collision course with Nigerians, bearing in mind
the collateral damage that usually occurs whenever the civilian
population clashes with military.
“Our nation is a democratic
state and we are not in a state of emergency that requires the
militarization of our electoral process.
“Our military, which is
cherished by Nigerians, should, therefore, foreclose any attempt by the
Buhari Presidency to use it to set our country on fire.”
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