ABUJA - President Muhammadu Buhari on
Monday warned that anyone trying to tamper with Nigeria's
postponed vote risked their lives and accused the electoral
commission of incompetence.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
announced the delay in the early hours of Saturday, just as some
of Nigeria's 84 million registered voters were already making
their way to polling stations
Buhari said anyone trying to steal or destroy ballot boxes
and voting material in the election now scheduled to take place
this coming Saturday would be dealt with firmly.
"I have given the military and the police instructions to be
ruthless. We are not going to be blamed for the bad conduct of
the election," he told an emergency meeting of senior members of
his All Progressives Congress (APC) party in the capital Abuja.
He said anyone trying to intimidate voters or interfere with
the voting "will do it at the expense of his own life".
The opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP) has suggested
that Buhari, a former military ruler who was later elected
president in 2015, was behind the postponement in order to hold
on to power.
The ruling party has accused the PDP of being behind the
delay and colluding with figures within the electoral
commission.
The PDP criticised the president's comments in which he
warned people against tampering with election material.
"President Muhammadu Buhari's threat to the lives of
Nigerians, at the opening of APC's national caucus meeting in
Abuja today, is a direct call for jungle justice," the party
said in a statement.
All sides have, however, appealed for calm in a country
where past elections have been marred by violence and
intimidation. So far, there have been no signs of violence or
unrest after INEC announced the delay.
Buhari faces a tight contest against the PDP's Atiku
Abubakar to lead a country that has Africa's largest economy and
is its top oil producer but is plagued by corruption and wide
gaps between rich and poor.
The election has been fought over Buhari's handling of the
economy amid fragile growth and growing unemployment as the
country recovers from a recession in 2016. Rising insecurity,
notably in regions under attack by Boko Haram and other Islamist
militants, is also a big worry.
The INEC cited logistical difficulties and problems with
transporting election material to far-flung or conflict-ridden
areas, and denied any political pressure had been brought to
bear in its decision to suspend the vote.
Buhari said there was a need to scrutinise the issues that
caused the postponement.
"Definitely the reasons why such incompetence manifests
itself has to be explained to the nation. After the election we
have to know exactly what really happened," he said, promising
that an investigation would be launched.
The electoral commission had said that campaigning would be
suspended until the new voting day on Saturday but the two main
parties have said they intend to resume campaigning.
APC chairman Adams Oshiomhole told his party's meeting that
INEC chairman Mahmood Yakubu Oshiomhole had been mistaken in
halting campaigning.
"INEC is not in a position to make laws. The law says you
are entitled to renew campaigns up to 24 hours before the
beginning of election," he said.
The opposition PDP also said it would get back on the
campaign trail. It rejected the commission's decision on
campaigns, which a PDP statement said was "directly in conflict
with the provision of the Electoral Act and is not backed by any
other law in our country".