The Presidency has come out in stout defence of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Chief of Staff (CoS), Professor Ibrahim Gambari, after a video emerged that showing former All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, telling Gambari that unnamed persons be arrested.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) insists that it was a plot to arrest Edo PDP supporters before the September 19 governorship elections to give the APC an edge, noting that since President Buhari’s CoS was part of the plot, he, President is aware of it.
Presidential spokesman, Mr.Garba Shehu, said in a statement that the video was an “ingenious patchwork of mischief, extracted from an innocent conversation focused on the emerging incidents of violence in the run up to the election.”
He adds, “It is equally a fact that various political parties campaigning in Edo have levelled accusations of violence against one another. In such a heightened state of uncertainty, responsible leadership, must ensure that elections are conducted in a peaceful manner and if warranted, judicious use of law enforcement to protect lives and properties of citizens is mobilized thus preventing criminal elements from subverting the democratic process. This message has consistently been repeated by Mr. President. He does not support violence of any sort and its propagators will be brought to justice. Elections must reflect the will of the people.
“Equally important, is that the persons in the video, Professor Gambari and Comrade Oshiomhole have a history and track record of working to protect the rights of Nigerians and humanity of all walks of life, especially the poor and marginalized; and as such will not be found encouraging any conduct that runs counter to these values.”
But the PDP want President Buhari to question Gambari says Nigerians were alarmed by the video in which Oshiomhole was seen emphatically urging the Chief of Staff to Mr. President on the need to clampdown on certain unnamed Nigerians to achieve political suppression and submission ahead of the Edo election.
The party states further: “Our National Campaign holds that the presence and involvement of the Chief of Staff to the President and the fact that the discussion held within the precincts of the Presidential Villa, have made the Presidency complicit and place a huge burden on President Muhammadu Buhari.
“Already, there is anxiety in the public space that the discussion between Oshiomhole and Prof. Gambari as captured in the video is an extension of discussions that must have held behind closed doors in the Presidential villa.
“The video has validated earlier revelations of plots by Oshiomhole and the discredited APC governorship candidate, Osagie Ize-Iyamu, to use compromised security operatives being mobilized by certain individuals in the Presidency, to arrest innocent Nigerians, including traditional, faith-based and community leaders on trumped up charges, ahead of the Edo election.
“It also confirms our stance that Adams Oshiomhole and the APC candidate have completely lost ground in Edo state, hence the plot to clamp down on the people.
“Nigerians and the people of Edo state now know those to hold responsible should there be cases of illegal arrests, assassinations and unexplained killings, sudden disappearances of prominent people, accidental discharge by federal security operatives and mysterious accidents in the course of this Edo governorship election.
“The PDP National Campaign Council on Edo governorship election charges President Buhari to reassure Nigerians by immediately ordering that Adams Oshiomhole and Prof. Gambari be pulled in for questioning over the video.
“Anything short of a decisive action on this matter will further indict the Buhari Presidency especially coming on the heels of public anxiety over Mr. President’s widely condemned comment on the use of security forces for elections.
“Our campaign however wants the APC and Oshiomhole to know that their ignoble plots against the people of Edo state have come to naught as the people are at alert and will use every legitimate means available to defend their already expressed will in support of the candidate of our party, the PDP, Governor Obaseki in this election.”
