PDP alleges APC wants to smuggle voters in from Niger Republic after two governors attend Kano rally

NIGERIA'S main opposition the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of planning to import foreigners to participate in next month's elections after two governors from neighbouring Niger Republic attended a rally yesterday.

In an unprecedented development, yesterday, at the APC rally in Kano, Governor Issa Moussa of Zinder Province and Governor Zakiri Umar of Maradi Province in Niger Republic, attended an APC rally in Kano. Fully decked out in APC regalia, they posed for photographs with President Buhari and the Kano State governor Abdullahi Ganduje.

In a swift reaction, the PDP berated President Buhari and the APC over the presence of two governors, saying they were mortgaging the future of Nigeria. PDP chairman Prince Uche Secondus, alleged that the APC is now planning to import voters from neighbouring countries for the February 16 presidential election.

Prince Secondus called the attention of the international community to the alleged plan by the ruling party, saying that elections were internal affairs of Nigerians. He said the presence of the two foreign governors had also vindicated the PDP’s claim that President Buhari and his party had been importing foreigners to attend the APC rallies.

“We have been saying it that the president does not consider the interest of Nigerians first in any of his actions. The president of Nigeria has sold the country to those who he loves more than the people who own the nation.

“The presence of the two foreign governors is significant in many ways. One, it shows that the president and the APC, like we said, have been importing foreign leaders to the country to attend their rallies.

“We have been saying this and I’m happy Nigerians now that God has exposed them. Their evil plot has come to the open," Prince Secondus added.

He stressed: “You know that even in almost all the states where the president and his party have become unpopular, they keep on boasting that they will win with a landslide victory. One of the ways they planned to get the votes is the illegal importation of foreign voters, who are also underage.

“We want to call the attention of Nigerians to this assault on our sovereignty. We want the foreign and developed democracies to take note of this action and hold the president responsible if there is crisis before, during and after the elections.

“It is sad that the minister in charge of internal security of the nation was present. We know that they are planning negative things ahead of the elections and we just want to warn them not to plunge the country into crisis.”

However, Mashood Erubami, the president of the Nigeria Voters Assembly, added: “There is nothing unusual about the presence of the two governors with  President Buhari. It could be coincidental but having to do with the joint efforts between them and the Kano State government to confront the scourge of insurgency in Nigeria.

“The two governors are not registered voters in Nigeria and there is no possibility that they will mobilise their citizens across the borders without PVC to come and vote in Nigeria. It is unfortunate that opposition politicians always turn red to blue and would want gullible Nigerians to accept their agenda for the truth."

Meanwhile, at the rally, President Buhari said the Kano State governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, enjoyed immunity from prosecution over claims that he received bribes from contractors. He also noted that under the Nigerian laws, an accused person remained innocent until proved guilty by the courts.