Buhari: Lemu panel indicts Jonathan, PDP

Buhari: Lemu panel indicts Jonathan, PDP

Written by Nuruddeen M. Abdallah Wednesday, 12 October 2011 05:00

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The presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) Muhammadu Buhari said yesterday that President Goodluck Jonathan and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were the ones indicted by the Sheikh Ahmed Lemu panel.

Buhari who spoke to Daily Trust through his spokesperson Yinka Odumakin commended the panel for unravelling the causes of the violence that followed the April general elections. He explained that in its submissions, the panel fingered the manner the president and his party, the PDP handled the zoning controversy that almost torn it into shreds as well as divided the along sectional and religious lines, as one of the causes of the post-elections violence.

“The zoning controversy that rocked the party and the country as well turned the presidential elections into North –South and Christians-Muslims war,” he said. He added that abject poverty, mass youth unemployment, illiteracy, has been identified as responsible for the violent reactions of electoral irregularities by the committee, which is an indictment of the president and his party that has been in power in the last 12 years.

He explained that contrary to some reports the panel didn’t indict Buhari “because of the fact that the panel didn’t come out to state where and when Buhari incited people into violence.” He said that Buhari is not denying the fact that he “urged his supporters to protect their votes.  It was on record that he was not the only one that said so. The Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega had urged the electorate to stay behind and protect their votes. Pastor Enoch Adeboye (of the Redeemed Christian Church of God) has publicly urged Nigerians to protect their votes, as well as many other politicians.”