Ex-Deputy National Pub. Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Timi Frank, has accused the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai and the military high command of a plot to kill him.
In a statement on Friday, Frank said it was sad to note that the Army under Buratai has degenerated to this abysmal level of partisanship.
Frank wrote: “Buratai is after my life for speaking truth to power. I want Nigerians and the international community to hold Buratai and the military responsible should any harm befall me in the years ahead as the army chief has vowed to bring me down wherever he finds me. But God shall thwart the counsel of the ungodly.
“I insist that Buratai and the Chairman of INEC have been holding nocturnal meetings with President Buhari on how to achieve unearned victory for the APC during the elections which they have now done.
“Let Buratai tell Nigerians if he ever had any midnight meeting with the President and the INEC chair in the run-up to the last two successive elections instead of blackmailing and calling me names.
“But despite all of this intimidation, harassment, blackmail and name calling against my person, I remain undeterred. I will continue to expose their crimes against Nigerians and the nation’s democratic process by using its men to subvert the express will and choice of who governs them in favour of highly placed individuals in the governing APC.”
“European Union (EU) Election Observation Mission, the International Republican Institute (IRI), the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and other foreign and local election monitors, have reported how the elections were hugely marred by military personnel and this is public knowledge.
“Besides, countless video, audio and photo evidence exist online detailing some of the heinous atrocities of the military during the elections, yet Buratai and the military want Nigerians to believe that I am a “Protagonist of Fake News” for revealing beforehand their plans to hijack the nation’s political and electoral processes in favour of APC.
“Rather than seeking to kill, silence or liquidate me for putting before Nigerians and the world information that they have not been able to controvert, let Buratai and the military apologize to Nigerians for deceiving them via fake news and propaganda that Boko Haram had been defeated, degraded and Sambisa forest liberated.
“Even little children across Nigeria know that despite the spurious claims by the military, Boko Haram has continued to wax strong and sinister – killing, maiming, displacing and kidnapping scores of innocent Nigerians on a regular basis.
“Apart, from the Northeast states of Borno and Yobe still under incessant attacks from the insurgents, they have extended their theatre of operations to include otherwise peaceful states in the Northwest like Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto and Kaduna.
“Buratai and the military should apologize to Nigerians for being the greatest harbinger of fake news and propaganda in the country by spreading wholesale lies that Boko Haram had been defeated, including the presentation of a fake Boko Haram flag to President Buhari with claims that Sambisa Forest has been liberated.
He called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to hold to account Buratai and all military personnel found to have engaged in the mindless killing and maiming of innocent Nigerians in a bid to rig the just-concluded elections in favour of President Buhari and the APC.
He also called on the EU and the United States to expedite their promise to place visa restriction on those who promoted or perpetuated violence and rigging during the last elections especially top military personnel, APC stalwarts and members of their families.