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By: Taofeek Lawal – Abuja
Less than two weeks to the February 25 presidential and national assembly polls, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Kola Abiola, has called for a free and fair election devoid of violence and which will be accepted by all candidates.
Abiola gave the advice on Sunday when a group, Nigeria Fulani Political Forum (NFPF) led by Dr Ibrahim Abdullahi endorsed him as their candidate for the presidential election in Abuja. The scion of the Abiola family condemned attack on political parties by rival parties, saying such attacks did not augur well for Nigeria unity.
He said the June 12, 1993 presidential election, presumably won by the late MKO Abiola, would continue to be a reference point in Nigerian political history, adding that the outcome of the 1993 election was accepted by all because it reflected the will of the people.
“We have done an election in this country before which is still the fairest and most equitable election in this country up till today that was in 1993. Did we have any fight? We did not. But as long as the will of the people is taking into consideration and they allow their votes to count, I really don’t see any violence happening. When you start feeling aggrieved it is a different ball game. But as long as it run free, fair for everybody, the outcome will be accepted across board.”
The PRP presidential standard-bearer described the naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as ill-timed which has compounded the woes of ordinary citizens who are in the villages across the country. He said the banking and Fintech software are not robust to take the volume of the activities they are being subjected to online.
“It (naira redesign) is badly timed. What has happened is a collective mess. You have a situation that is not working. The banks cannot cope with the influx. We don’t have enough naira there. Many of our citizens are not even on the banking system. They are in the villages and local governments all over that don’t have banks. So how do you change money? How do you take your money?
“You need to be inclusive first before you bring policy that is inclusive. We are not even inclusive how do we even transact? The banking software, the Fintech are not robust to take the volume of the activities you are forcing it to do online. What has happened is that a lot of banking softwares have crashed. Nobody is doing the audit of the banking softwares to be sure that they can actually cope with the volume increase.”
Speaking on why it is endorsing the PRP presidential candidate for the February 25 elections, the NFPF said it believes in PRP manifestos to deliver Nigerians from the shackles of poverty which the APC under President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has subjected them to in the last seven and half years with the promise to mobilise 7.5 million votes across Nigeria for Kola Abiola and the PRP.
“We have not had it so good under the APC government which did not care for us. Whoever vote for APC among our leaders is not a patriotic Nigerian citizen. APC is out of equations for us.
“Our leadership is satisfied with your manifesto and we have asked our people to vote enmasse for PRP. Our voting patterns will not be based on ethnic, religion or regional considerations but on the candidate that we believe in,” Abdullahi said.
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