Sowore - Ballot Box Threat By Buhari Is Aimed At Scaring Voters Population

Omoyele Sowore (Presidential Candidate of AAC)

Omoyele Sowore the Presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), has said that President Muhammadu Buhari's statement on ballot box snatchers is a threat which is aimed at scaring away voters on election day.

Mr. Sowore said if Buhari was sincere about stopping electoral malpractice, he would have focused on the sponsors of ballot box snatchers and not the actors only.
The AAC Presidential candidate made this known during an interview with newsmen on Wednesday. The activist said President Buhari had shown that he was still a dictator as he made no mention of arresting and prosecuting ballot box snatchers but went ahead to suggesting killing.

He further said if the President was really serious about stopping electoral malpractice, he would have stopped his party from engaging in vote buying.

Sowore also said, "General Buhari is clearly still a military dictator at heart. Ballot box snatching is a terrible offence, but how could anyone ask for an offender to be killed without recourse to the law? Are there no courts? Shouldn't an offender be charged to court first?

''It is ironic that the same person who is quick to ask for ballot box snatchers to be killed, has no problems with heading a party that engages in massive vote-buying and rigging as we saw in Ekiti and Osun.

''While President Buhari called for the ballot box snatchers to be killed, what about the people who sent them to snatch the ballot boxes? What about the politicians who paid them to cause chaos at the polls? By raising the specter of violence at polling centers and encouraging law enforcement agencies to shoot during elections, the President is essentially scaring people away from the polls.

''He knows that ballot rigging has been a sad but persistent feature of Nigerian elections. This threat is not really directed at ballot box snatchers, but a deliberate attempt to scare people away from the polls. I call on all Nigerians not to be deterred or scared away from the polls.''

The publisher of Sahara Reporters, who also lambasted the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for postponing the polls, said he already knew INEC would delay the elections and he had prepared adequately.

Sowore said the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the People's Democratic Party (PDP) were the biggest beneficiaries of the postponement because they were the richest parties in the country.

When asked if he had the N800m needed to deploy polling agents in all the polling units and voting points across the country, Mr. Sowore said he did not need such an amount because people were willing to volunteer.