The presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, Omoyele Sowore, says President Muhammadu Buhari’s threat to ballot box snatchers is aimed at scaring away voters on election day.

Sowore said if Buhari was sincere about stopping electoral malpractice, he would have focused on the sponsors of ballot box snatchers and not the actors only.

The AAC candidate said this during an interview with our correspondent on Wednesday.

The activist said Buhari had shown that he was still a dictator as he made no mention of arresting and prosecuting ballot box snatchers but went ahead to suggest killing.

He said if the President was really serious about stopping electoral malpractice, he would have stopped his part from engaging in vote-buying.

Sowore said, “General Buhari is clearly still a military dictator at heart. Ballot box snatching is a terrible offence, but how could anyone ask for an offender to be killed without recourse to the law? Are there no courts? Shouldn’t an offender be charged to court first?

“It is ironic that the same person who is quick to ask for ballot box snatchers to be killed, has no problems with heading a party that engages in massive vote-buying and rigging as we saw in Ekiti and Osun.

“While Buhari called for the ballot box snatchers to be killed, what about the people who sent them to snatch the ballot boxes? What about the politicians who paid them to cause chaos at the polls? By raising the spectre of violence at polling centres and encouraging law enforcement agencies to shoot during elections, the President is essentially scaring people away from the polls.

“He knows that ballot rigging has been a sad but persistent feature of Nigerian elections. This threat is not really directed at ballot box snatchers, but a deliberate attempt to scare people away from the polls. I call on all Nigerians not to be deterred or scared away from the polls.”

The Sahara Reporters publisher, who also lambasted the Independent National Electoral Commission for postponing the polls, said he already knew INEC would delay the elections and he had prepared adequately.

He said the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party were the biggest beneficiaries of the postponement because they were the richest parties in the country.

When asked if he had the N800m needed to deploy polling agents in all the polling units and voting points across the country, Sowore said he did not need such a an amount because people were willing to volunteer.

Sowore added, “We are a true grassroots organisation. The ‘TakeitBack’ movement and the African Action Congress are present in every geopolitical zone and in every state. We will have agents in every state and in most of the polling units in the nation.

“We introduced digital methods into the agent recruitment exercise. In addition to the physical compilation of the names of those interested in being party agents, we developed online methods and an app that allowed us to mobilise agents as well.

“Unlike the APC and the PDP that will pay about N5,000 to N10,000 per agent and spend between N600m and N1.2bn on them across all the polling units in the country, we are a volunteer driven organisation.”

The former student union leader, who fought for the mandate of the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 election, MKO Abiola, said he was not deterred by the decision of some of MKO’s children to endorse Buhari following the President’s decision to declare June 12 as Democracy Day.

He said Buhari did so for political reasons but admitted that it was a good decision.

Sowore said, “The June 12 struggle was not about Abiola or his family. It was about moving Nigeria forward. My engagement in that struggle was to ensure that we had a country where democratic tenets reigned supreme, where military dictatorship was eliminated and where the Nigerian people could freely choose their own leaders.

“In all of the 30 years that I have been involved in the Nigerian political system, I have not supported persons, but instead I have fought for principles. When Obasanjo wanted to extend his tenure, I fought against that.”

When asked if he would accept the result of the election if he loses, Sowore said he would only do so if the exercise is free and fair.

On what would be the focus of his administration if elected, Sowore said he would focus on security, restructuring, infrastructure and the enthronement of democratic norms.

He said he would form a shadow cabinet once he is declared winner and this would allow for an easy transition.

Sowore said, “I have developed a 10-point agenda built on three pillars of security, self sufficiency and sustainability. The 10-point agenda addresses problems in the areas of security, power, infrastructure, corruption, economy and jobs, restructuring, health care, education, agriculture and tourism and the first letter of each program spells out SPICER HEAT.

https://punchng.com/buharis-ballot-box-threat-aimed-at-scaring-voters-sowore/

Buhari is just blood thirsty.

of course we are smarter than him, his urchin senses failed him thus the threats

Very true because every voter goes there with the aim of coming back home with at least a box full of ballots.

Drastic lawlessness calls for drastic actions.



Ballot Snatchers don't appear with gala n lacasera, since they are threating the laws they should be cleared immediately.


Everyone must receive sense in 2019

True , trust Naija police/Army they might kill innocent citizens and tag them ballot snatchers

It's expected that other political candidates take this President Buhari's statement out of context just to score cheap political point and perhaps gain some sentimental votes from the uninformed.

The statement is very clear, do not snatch ballot boxes. No sane Nigerian will snatch ballot boxes.

And if you're not a sane Nigerian to vote and go home, then that means you're insane to snatch the ballot box and insane people should be treated insanely.

abeg make the election do come and go jare....
Pdp wants rig, Apc wants to rig, the smartest of them will win. Crooks!!

But seriously sha
Buhari directives is funny o
Snatch one ballot box and get one bullet in return
That is the new electoral act promo in town.

And the same man single handedly snatch our democracy on gun point in 1983

But wait o oooo

How about the smart card readers that have been programmed to start at exactly 8am on election day. What about its communication with the head quarter after its successful verification and authentication

The ballot papers issued is equal to the number of registered voters at that polling unit or voting point. The number of verified voters must equal to the number of ballot papers used

The card reader will send record of accreditation and authentication to the server once close-v button is pressed.

If you like thumb print three hundred million ballot papers. Or steal ballot box It will not count and that polling unit will be cancelled

Anyway ! what do I know
am just talking as an Apo 2 i was shortlisted for in Benin city



Make i go drink beer dey wait for their training allowance joor
Our next president must be alhaji atiku aguero abubakar

call me...
if you need an graphical job done at an affordable prices.

but we the atikulated ones aren't afraid, we'll go and vote

Zombies will call sowore ipob or PDP member
Hypocrites dwell in the apc

We must go out and vote for change on Saturday.

Buhary will surely fail

That is the target of the tyrant offcourse. We all know the uniform men who are only ruthless with innocent unarmed Nigerians will have a filled day harassing those who are not on the side of the government of the day. We already saw how some coward military guys and police were doing the 4+4 sign. God will shame them all when Nigerians go to the poll without fear of intimidation and vote the dictator out. Akwuya daura..

anybody that steal ballot box is infringing on the Nigerian citizen's right to elect their leaders. Buhari/ atiku if you want to rig, don't get caught cos Na who dem catch be thief... if u thugs want to steal ballot box, don't get caught as well

Sowere, you won snatch ballots box? Why standing as an advocate of wrong things?

Sowore is high on his beloved weed.

Scare voters including the APC voters?

Like if you agree with Sowore, Share if you disagree.

While speaking at the Presidential rallies in Lokoja and Warri, President Buhari advised Nigeriand to reflect on where the country was in 2015 when he took over power and where the country is today, before deciding on who to vote for.
Here are the situations then, and now:
1. In 2015 fuel was N87/litre and now N145/litre
2. In 2015 exchange rate was N187/Dollar and now N360/Dollar
3. In 2015 a bag of rice was N7000 and now N18000 a bag
4. In 2015 a mudu of gari was N120 and now N600 per mudu
5. In 2015 kerosene was N50/litre and now N350/litre
6. In 2015 killings were limited to North East now it's everywhere.
7. In 2015 Fulani herdsmen were hardly heard of, now they are reigning, killing at will in Taraba, Benue, Plateau, Enugu, Nasarawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, Niger, etc.
8. In 2015 we hardly heared about a group called Miyetti Allah. But today Miyetti Allah reigns supreme; they boast of extra-judicial killings.
9. In 2015 Nigeria was the fastest growing economy in Africa but today Nigeria is the poverty capital of the world
10. In 2015 Nigerian youths were described as great, intelligent and innovative but today they are described as lazy Nigerian Youth.
11. In 2015 freedom of speech and rule of law were taken for granted by Nigerians but now these are rare, threatening our hard earned democracy.
12. In 2015 Nigerians were much more united, but today Nigerians are more divided than ever
13. In 2015 youths were being offered jobs, but presently 4 million Nigerians who had job, have lost their jobs and no replacement.
14. In 2015 all sections of the country were represented in the nation's security council, but now it is almost 100% one ethnic and one religious group all from the North.
Etc etc.
So anybody expecting Buhari to come out openly to tell Nigerians to vote for him must be unfair to him. He has said it all; compare 2015 and now and decide who to vote for.
The No 1 citizen has warned, we must heed his warning!!
A vote for Buhari is a vote for famine, insecurity and unemployment.
He has already advised us on whom to vote for.
Therefore it is our collective responsibility to ensure we vote Buhari out of Aso rock and return him back to his village in Daura.

Do not say i didn't warm you.
Forward this message to all your contacts until it's get to millions of people in Nigeria.

We know the tactics is a ploy to scare people from coming out, their evil plan will back fire.

Another silly and junk talk from sowore.

Ballot box snatchers don't vote, they don't value their lives, future and their names .

If you don't have mind of snatching ballot boxes, why should you be scared. if them dey swear on top animal wey thief kola, dog nor dey complain because he nor dey chop kola.

Sowore try and snatch ballot box, your grave is the nearest bus stop to you.

My people planning to vote on sentiment lines, I hail oo. South west go suffer wella, as did when obj was elected president for the first time in 1999 as he didn't get much voted from our region. Make una continue. Tinubu and others who are pushing you have atiku and obi's mobile numbers. They dont need noise to enter aso villa. Na una go suffer am pass. same tinubu lashed out at Buhari when he picked pastor bakare as his running mate a few years ago. Suddenly, he's seen Buhari as a food man. Abo oro lanso fun omoluabi oo

Buhari Has Lost!! And Nothing will Happen!!

Sowore you are a disgrace.Are voters ballot snatchers?

E no scare us oh

I support Buhari