Why Buhari must accept defeat, hand over to opposition – PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) must accept defeat in the February 16 presidential election if it comes, and handover power peacefully.

The leading opposition party said there were strong indications that Buhari would lose the election, arguing that he has lost grounds in the North West which was his major stronghold including the North Central,  North East and other geo-political zones.

Addressing a press conference on Sunday in Abuja, the Director of Media and Publicity of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the party would resist any attempt by the ruling party to rig the polls.

Ologbondiyan said the PDP allowed a free and fair election in 2015, respected the will of the people and handed over power to President Buhari, without any shenanigans that would have denied him victory, adding that he should do same.

“Today, the APC and the Buhari Presidency have become uncontrollably feverish over the overwhelming acceptance gained by Atiku Abubakar in all the geo-political zones, particularly in the North West states of Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Kano, Katsina, Kaduna and Jigawa states, hitherto considered as President Buhari’s political stronghold.

“Having lost genuine followership in the North West, the North Central, the North East and a greater part of the South West, all of which gave them a ride to victory in 2015, and having no prospects in the South East and South South, the APC and the Buhari Presidency are now seeking ways to derail our electoral process.

“This accounts for the manipulations in INEC and the smuggling in of mercenaries from Niger Republic to populate APC rallies, ostensibly to unleash them on our nation immediately it is clear that President Buhari is losing at the polls.

“The PDP wants President Buhari to note that Nigeria will not fall. Our country, as a nation of over 200 million resilient men and women, is bigger than President Buhari as well as the APC and would resist all anti-democratic forces being unleashed against our democratic order.

“The Buhari Presidency and the APC have come to the stark reality that the influences on which they rode to power in 2015 no longer avail.

“We therefore urge President Buhari to avail his mind to accept his imminent defeat when it eventually comes on February 16,” the PDP said.