Former Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Hon. Femi Bamisile, has stated that the comment ascribed to President Muhammadu Buhari instructing security agencies to deal “ruthlessly” with ballot box snatchers during elections was the most patriotic comment ever made by a sitting President.
Bamisile said the order attested that the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led federal government and the leadership of the ruling party under Buhari had no plan to rig the February 23 rescheduled Presidential and National Assembly polls.
The APC chieftain, who is a House of Representatives candidate in Ekiti South Federal constituency II, predicted that Buhari and other candidates of the party would win in Ekiti by 80 per cent in this Saturday’s elections.
President Buhari had on Monday revealed during an APC stakeholders’ meeting held at the party’s secretariat in Abuja that he had given stringent order to security agencies to “deal ruthlessly with those who may want to snatch ballots and ridicule electoral system on Saturday”.
However, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, described the presidential directive as a call to anarchy and leeway for jungle justice in the politics of the nation.
Bamisile, who defended President Buhari in Ado Ekiti on Wednesday while interacting with journalists, said: “The president didn’t give a shooting order the way former President Olusegun Obasanjo gave a shoot at sight order against OPC when he was President .
“President Buhari only said those who snatched ballots will have themselves to blame. So, I stand hundred percent behind him on this order. We are not in the 19th century when things were absurd. It is a barbaric act for anyone to snatch ballot boxes.
“If anyone loses his life while attempting to snatch ballot boxes, he should have himself to blame. Nigerians should see elections as a process that will come and go and the nation will remain. Why is the PDP afraid ?If you are not a thief and they say if you steal you go to jail, why are you bothered if you are not a thief?”
Bamisile pointed out that President Buhari enjoys cult-like followers in the North, and that, that will make him win the next election in spite of the noise by opposition that the PDP had taken over the North.
“Forget about all the talks that his fame has waned, the President has a natural vote in the north. We will win this poll with not less than 4.7 million votes. When he contested on the platforms of ANPP and CPC, the least he ever got was 12m votes. Now that he had served and performed well, it will be more,” he said.
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