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By John Alechenu, Abuja
The Atiku-Okowa Presidential Campaign Organisation has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to call a National Security Council meeting to address the threat posed by the formation of the ‘Jagaban Army,’ to the sovereignty of Nigeria.
Spokesperson of the Campaign, Kola Ologbondiyan, made the appeal in a statement in Abuja, on Sunday.
Ologbondiyan urged President Buhari to, “as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, protect the integrity of the Nigerian military as well as the sovereignty of our nation by summoning a meeting of the National Security Council over the establishment of a parallel army (Jagaban Army), by the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”
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He further said, “Nigerians are concerned that since the public outcry over the exposed design by the APC and its presidential candidate to use a parallel army code-named the Jagaban Army, to undermine our national security, affront the Nigeria Army, cause confusion, disrupt the 2023 elections and derail our democratic process, neither the APC Campaign nor Asiwaju Tinubu have disowned the formation or its nefarious plans.
“This is even more worrisome in the face of allegations in the public space that the Jagaban Army is training and arming thugs with dangerous weapons in secret locations across the country, ostensibly to use the illegal formation to undermine Nigerian security forces and unleash mayhem on Nigerians during the elections.
“Nigerians have been wondering how a political party or any candidate for that matter can create a parallel Army and adorned them with uniforms as well as ranks within a sovereign State as if Nigeria has become Asiwaju Tinubu’s fiefdom.
“Furthermore, Nigerians are alarmed that the APC presidential candidate went to London to declare war on our nation by openly charging his party cohorts to take power at all costs, only for him to return to the country to have his campaign set up a parallel army to undermine our national security in order to achieve his malevolent designs.
“The expectation of Nigerians was that after Asiwaju Tinubu declared that ‘political power is not served in a restaurant, it is not served a la carte, it is what we are doing; it is being determined; you do it at all cost; fight for it, grab it, snatch it and run (away) with it’, the security authorities ought to have immediately taken him in for questioning for treasonable felony.”
According to him, this is not the first time that Asiwaju Tinubu has come out brazenly to undermine the sovereignty of our nation as well as the office and the person of President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said Nigerians can recall how Asiwaju Tinubu went to the Presidential Villa, undermine President Buhari by using the presidential facility in the seat of power to announce his presidential interest. That, to say the least, was felonious.
Ologbondiyan further said, “Nigerians are also aware of how the APC presidential candidate has arrogantly continued to disrespect, disparage and undermine the person of the President and how he had publicly mocked and depicted President Buhari as weak and weeping over losses in presidential elections until, according to him, he (Tinubu) came to his rescue and made him (Buhari) President.
“The import is that Asiwaju Tinubu, in his arrogance, believes that he cannot be subjected to President Buhari’s constitutional powers and this accounts for his temerity to run a parallel Army; a treasonable act against the Office of the President and our national sovereignty.”
He stressed that it is clear that Tinubu is desperate to be President, but with manifest signs of rejection by Nigerians, he is ready to cause bloodletting and destroy democratic process.
The campaign spokesperson noted that it is imperative to state that insurrectionary groups that unleashed mayhem and derailed democracy in many parts of the world all started with desperate power seekers who cannot gain office through democratic means.
He said, “The fear across our country is that the APC presidential candidate is apparently following this dangerous path.
“We implore Asiwaju Tinubu to come to terms with the reality that Nigerians have made up their minds to elect the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, as the next President of Nigeria, come February 25.
“Our Campaign, therefore, demands that President Buhari should stamp his feet of authority and check Asiwaju Tinubu from sinking our nation into an abyss.”
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