Why PDP deliberately misinterpreted order on ballot box snatchers —Pro-Buhari group

Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has attacked the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over its response to President Muhammadu Buhari’s directives that ballot snatchers and thugs be dealt with by security agencies.

It said PDP’s condemnation of Buhari’s over the statement that ballot box snatchers do so at their own risk was a proof that the opposition party has been planning to rig elections.

PDP and some other Nigerians have condemned and described Buhari’s statement on ballot box snatchers as unbecoming of a President, accusing him of inciting violence with the comment.

But BMO in a statement by its chairman, Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary, Cassidy Madueke, said the PDP was deliberately misinterpreting the statement of the President to mean calling for violence when they knew it was not.

“The Peoples Democratic Party knew exactly what the President was talking about, but chose to deliberately misinterpret him.

“Anyone who has no plan to rig the elections has no need to fear the consequences of the actions of ballot snatchers and thugs on the day of elections.

“But being that the PDP had already put on its roadmap and strategy, ballot snatching and thuggery, especially in strongholds of President Buhari, it is worried that the lives of those it has engaged to thwart Nigeria’s elections can no longer be guaranteed,” the statement read.

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Arguing that the PDP had no plans to participate in peaceful and lawful elections, the group added, “In the last 16 years of our democracy, elections have been marred by violence perpetrated by thugs and ballot snatchers. Innocent people have lost their lives and many others have been injured due to the activities of these thugs.

“President Buhari’s directive to security agencies is one that is saying that those needless deaths and injuries must be put to an end by bringing those who perpetrate electoral violence to book.”

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