Alhaji Balarabe Musa has said that the country does not have the condition for a free and fair election and that only money will deter...
Alhaji Balarabe Musa has said that the country does not have the condition for a free and fair election and that only money will determine winners of the 2019 general elections.
In an interview with Nigerian Tribune, the former governor of old Kaduna state also said the support Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was giving to Atiku Abubakar was because he was afraid of what President Muhammadu Buhari will do to him.
Musa said even though attempt will be made to conduct a free and fair election, it will still be rigged by the ruling All Progressives Congress and the main opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party.
He said: "Anything can happen in Nigeria, but one thing is that people should not fool themselves that the election will be free, fair and transparent and lead to a legitimate government in Nigeria. The conditions for such do not exist. However, an attempt will be made, yes, but there will not be free, fair and transparent election leading to a legitimate government. The election will be manipulated; it will be rigged in favour of those who have money, because the deciding factor in politics and election in Nigeria now is money power. In particular, stolen money power.
"Conservatively, you cannot even have a chance of winning a governorship election in Nigeria unless you can spend at least half a billion Naira. In the case of presidential election, you have to spend anything from N3 billion to N5 billion. In fact, for the 2019 elections, at this level of degeneration in Nigeria, the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidates will spend up to N500 billion to win the Presidency. They will virtually buy the votes and those who will manage to organise the campaign, they will also buy them.
"Votes never count in Nigeria, except marginally. The votes have never counted in the history of Nigeria, though some were better than the others. Well, it was relatively free. It was the nearest to a free election in the history of Nigeria. It wasn't really free, but it was free under the Nigerian condition. We have never had an election near what you can call free and fair election."
Musa also accused Obasanjo of acting like an imperial authority saying his support for Atiku is because of his fear for Buhari.
He said: "You can see how the power mongers in the country are rallying behind the former Vice-President, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku. Look at how they are rallying behind the PDP. Look at how [former] President Olusegun Obasanjo used the influence he had to seek the removal of the ban placed on Atiku from entering America. You know until a few weeks ago, every Nigerian believed that Atiku was banned from traveling to America because of the corruption charges. But two or three weeks ago, Obasanjo went to America and solved the problem for him. Now, Atiku has gone to America and he went to America because of the influence of Obasanjo. So, you should now assume that white imperialism is now in control in Nigeria through PDP with the major role of Obasanjo behind the whole thing.
"Remember Obasanjo came in to support Buhari in 2015 when he started his campaign for the Presidency and he helped him [Buhari] to become the president. But immediately Buhari started, apparently, he didn't want to be a brand of Obasanjo and the latter dumped him. The result now is that he [Obasanjo] is fighting Buhari to the death. That is the only way you can explain his support for Atiku against Buhari, because how can you imagine Obasanjo who is so articulate in terms of power, with all the failure of Buhari, how can you imagine him preferring Atiku, who compared with Buhari, is virtually a nonentity politically? How can you imagine Obasanjo, an articulate politician and articulate leader, supporting Atiku, because of the fear of what Buhari can do to him and others?"
COMMENTS