Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Organisation has called on the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari, to call his supporters to order and ensure a violence-free election.
Director of Media and Publicity of the Organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, made the call in a statement issued Sunday in Abuja against the backdrop of the violence, arson and destruction unleashed on President Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign buses at Zololo Junction along Bauchi road in Jos North North Local Government Area of Plateau State on Saturday.
Fani-Kayode warned General Buhari and the APC not to prepare the ground for the re-enactment of the post-election violence of 2011.
According to him, “It is on record that General Buhari’s utterances since 2011 have fuelled violence especially the post-election violence in parts of the north which claimed the lives of many youth corps members who were deployed as ad-hoc staff members for that year’s election. It is sad that up till now General Buhari has refused to apologize to the Nigerian people for that barbaric and shameful incident or show any remorse for the actions of his supporters. He could not even bring himself to tender an apology to the families of those young corps members that were hacked to death and murdered in cold blood by his agents.
“As if that was not enough tragedy unleashed on the polity, General Buhari recently said that the ‘baboon and the dog would be soaked in blood if what happened in 2011 repeat itself in 2015.’
“The Jos attack on the campaign buses of President Goodluck Jonathan would appear to be a pointer to what the opposition APC presidential candidate is planning before and after the February 14 presidential election.
“We therefore call on well-meaning Nigerians and members of the international community to speak forcefully against this development, which threatens our elections and democracy and which falls way below the standard of best international practices.”
