A former deputy national publicity secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Timi Frank, on Thursday, called for the intervention of the United States, United Kingdom and European Union (EU) to prevent alleged plot to postpone the forthcoming 2023 general election in Nigeria.
Frank, who made the call in a statement in Abuja, said there was a potent plot by persons he called ‘enemies of democracy’ to cause a postponement of the elections to enable them allegedly perfect their rigging strategies.
According to him, it has become imperative for leaders of advanced democracies and defenders of freedoms like the USA, UK and EU, among others, to impress it on President Muhammadu Buhari and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to succumb to alleged APC’s blackmails, but to conduct the elections as scheduled.
He insisted that their intervention would not only ensure that the elections were held as scheduled but will help save democracy in Nigeria.
He said in a recent media report that the APC is seeking postponement of the elections for four weeks, and it has vindicated his position that the ruling party has commenced plot to derail the elections.
He said: “The purpose of calling for shift of date of elections is not in the interest of Nigerians, it is being motivated by their Presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who used a similar method to emerge flagbearer of the party for 2023.”
He insisted that APC Governors at the behest of Tinubu have been mobilised to blackmail INEC and Buhari to postpone the elections so as to enable them perfect their rigging plot.
Frank, who is the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) Ambassador to East Africa and Middle East, said the APC is seeking to buy time because “they know they if elections are held today they will lose.”
He said: “APC Governors have no right to complain that people in rural areas are suffering because of fuel and Naira scarcity since they are directly responsible for the pains and suffering in the first place.
“After all, the APC Presidential candidate has confirmed to Nigerians that his party has failed hence the excruciating poverty and pains in the land.
“This is the very reason Nigerians wants the elections to hold as scheduled so they can end the tenure of this wicked and uncaring administration for good.”
He said it has become necessary for the international community to mount strong diplomatic pressure on the President not to heed the advice of nay sayers because any posts would plunge the country into unimaginable crisis.
He said the current riots in the South West and parts of South South over fuel and Naira scarcity were sponsored by the APC so they can use it as strategy to prevail on INEC and the President to shift the elections.
He added: “However, this is not the strategy of Nigeria because Nigerians are ready to go to the polls to elect their representatives for which they have since collected their PVCs.
“Already the CBN has assured INEC that whatever logistics needed by INEC to conduct the elections would be provided to make conduct of the elections seamless.
“Why is it that it is only the ruling party that is crying over a policy which they initiated. They are not working to win the elections. They are working to steal the elections. That is why they need time.
“If elections are shifted today, Nigerians will revolt because it would be tantamount to a denial of their inalienable rights.”
He urged Buhari to remain resolute and stand by his promise to bequeath a legacy of credible elections to Nigeria “which will invariably start from keeping faith with the dates as already announced.”
He further said Nigerians are worried about judgements emanating from the Supreme Court of recent and called on the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Kayode Ariwoola, not to play politics with election cases or confer regional advantage on particular parties or aspirants.
He said: “How can aspirants like Senator Godswill Akpabio and Senate President Ahmad Lawan who didn’t contest for primaries suddenly declared by the Supreme Court as senatorial candidates irrespective of the rightful winners of those elections?
“How can the apex court hurriedly rule against the ban on old Naira notes by the Central Bank of Nigeria, knowing fully well that the ruling would enable the APC to use slush funds denominated in old notes to engage in vote buying during the election?”
He called on the CJN to remain unbiased and an impartial jurist notwithstanding his position as stakeholder in the South West, where the APC candidate comes from.
