Don’t plunge Nigeria into violence, Goodluck Lagos Grassroots Project tells Buhari

A pro-Peoples Democratic Party group, the Goodluck Lagos Grassroots Project, has warned the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari,

against plunging Nigeria into violence after his defeat in the March 28 election.

GLGP asked Buhari and the APC chieftains to conduct their activities peacefully, if truly they are democrats.

The GLGP Chairman, Alhaji Mufutau Babalola, who spoke with our correspondent in Lagos during the week, asked the APC presidential candidate not to use the postponement of the general elections from February 14 and February 28 to March 28 and April 11 as an opportunity to plan any violence against the country after the APC candidate would have been announced loser of the next presidential election.

He reiterated President Goodluck Jonathan’s claim that no political party was strong enough to defeat the ruling PDP.

Babalola said, “The Independent National Electoral Commission postponed the general elections in the interest of everyone. So, it will be sad if any party, particularly the APC uses the opportunity created by the postponement to plot any sinister agenda against the collective interest of the country.

“We will continue to tell the APC and its supporters that Nigeria does not belong to them alone. They need to approach the general elections with decorum and accept the outcome in the spirit of sportsmanship, instead of warming up to plunge Nigeria into an orgy of violence after the poll.

“Nigerians have yet to forget that the Buhari’s utterance sparked off the violence that trailed the 2011 general elections in which many families lost their loved ones and valuable property. So, we will not stop asking them to put the interest of the country first before theirs.”

Babalola, however, asked the APC and its presidential candidate to join Jonathan’s administration in completely tackling the terrorist activities rocking the country, instead of engaging in criticism that would not benefit anyone.

He said, “All Nigerians are affected by the terrorist activities in one way or the other. That is why it is necessary for all lovers of peace, irrespective of their political affiliations, to see the end to the Boko Haram insurgency as a collective responsibility.”

But the APC spokesperson in the South-East, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, asked PDP and its supporters to stop bothering Nigerians with frivolities.

He said they should bury their heads in shame for failure to assuage Nigerians’ plight, instead of dissipating their energy unnecessarily.

The APC spokesperson said the pro-PDP group decided to provoke Buhari after their plan to stop the use of card reader in the conduct of the next general elections had failed.

He said, “The PDP case is like a medical school where there is no room for repeat after failure. It is certain that they have failed and that majority of Nigerians are eager to vote them out.

“So, they should leave Buhari alone because he did not contribute to Jonathan’s failure to fix Nigeria’s infrastructural challenges.

“The naira has crashed and the poverty level has risen. So, did Buhari contribute to the falling of the naira? Did Buhari contribute to Jonathan’s failure to diversify Nigeria’s economy?”