Buhari going to China to perfect plot to rig 2019 election, remove Saraki, APC chieftain Frank alleges

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its former deputy national publicity secretary, Timi Frank, has made worrying allegations against President Muhammadu Buhari and his trip to China today (Friday).

Frank is alleging that Buhari’s trip to China is a decoy to plot how to ensure that 2019 general elections is rigged to favour the APC as well as perfect a renewed scheme to remove Senate President Bukola Saraki from seat.

Buhari left Nigeria on Friday for China to participate in the 7th Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).

However, in a statement issued in Abuja, the APC chieftain explained that the reason the President made sure there was no opposition governors or lawmakers in his entourage was due to his alleged ‘evil’ plots against Nigeria’s democracy.

Names of APC governors, senators and cabinet members among President Buhari entourage as released by the Presidency on Thursday include governors Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar, Akinwunmi Ambode, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar and Rochas Anayo Okorocha of Bauchi, Lagos, Jigawa and Imo States respectively.

Four senators from Nasarawa, Benue, Akwa Ibom and Sokoto states, Abdullahi Adamu, George Akume, Godswill Akpabio and Aliyu Wamakko respectively, are the lawmakers on the entourage.

Others in the list were the minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi; Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola; Minister of FCT, Muhammad Bello; Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah; Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma; Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu; Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, and Minister of State, Aviation, Hadi Sirika.

There are also the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno; the Director General, National Intelligence Agency, Ahmed Abubakar; and the Group Managing Director (NNPC), Maikanti Baru.

Faulting the list Frank said, “Nigerians will recall that during the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, no such trip was made without the presence of opposition Governors and Lawmakers.

“Although, President Buhari too has traveled to foreign trips with opposition governors and Senators before now but the makeup of the entourage for the current trip casts doubt on the true intent of selecting these points men of Buhari for the FOCAC Summit in China.

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“Our sources around the Presidency have also confirmed to us that the plot to perfect the plot to rig the 2019 elections and the removal of Bukola Saraki as Senate President is responsible for the exclusion of opposition elements from the current trip.

“In an official business trip to China where business opportunities abound, one will expect a tolerant government to travel along with foremost Nigerian businessmen and women and not party cronies or leaders of the APC’s cabal in the Senate like Senator Abdullahi Adamu and Senator Godswill Apabio who are anti-Saraki’s leadership.

“The very composition of the entourage which included heads of elite security agencies and top brass of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) – the money pot of the country – betrays the hidden agenda of the Presidency on this trip.”

Frank, who had become a fierce critic of President Buhari and the ruling APC for some time now, then urged Nigerians, rights groups and leaders of thought not to be silent on the government’s alleged use of the country’s resources to fund private political meetings in a far away country camouflaged as ‘official trip’

 

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