Labour Party Gubernatorial Candidate In Borno State Fears Electoral Violence

Labour Party candidate in Borno State, Ibrahim Mshelia, slammed the governor of state Babagana Umara Zulum for making a speech that can incite electoral violence during the upcoming gubernatorial elections.

Nigerian gubernatorial elections are scheduled to be held this Saturday.

"During his [Zulum] campaign in Biu, Southern Borno, which happens to be my zone, the governor was publicly inciting the citizens to take to violence should the APC candidates lose at the polls," Mshelia said during a press meeting in Abuja on Tuesday, Tribune Online reported.

Commenting on Zulum's recent speech, while speaking in Hausa language he said, "During the forthcoming elections, we are voting for the governorship. Stand up and make sure our votes are high. Let's also have all the nine seats in the State House of Assembly in Southern Borno," Daily Times reported.

Zulum went on to share that he doesn't want to lose his seats during the elections in Southern Borno.

Mshelia added that he "strongly condemns this statement as electoral violence can breed unimaginable consequences and a governor should not be seen to promote election violence."

The LP candidate requested the President of Nigeria Mohammadu Buhari's attention alongside all the relevant security agencies to make sure that there is full protection of lives and property in the upcoming elections.

Moreover, Mshelia said that President Buhari and security agencies should ensure that these elections are credible and devoid of manipulations and violence.

"The clandestine agenda of some agents of political instability have perfected plans to turn the forthcoming elections to a battlefield and are just waiting to unleash violence," he continued. "They think, this is the only way to railroad themselves into victory. They must be stopped."

Mshelia noted that the sitting governor is "hell-bent on retaining power at all cost," adding that Zulum is prepared to "kill maim and destroy any hindrance on his way."

Mshelia's concern about electoral violence came after various opposition parties refused to accept the results of Feb. 25 presidential elections in which the ruling APC candidate Bola Tinubu was declared the winner.

During the elections, several electoral offenses were reported. In fact, Inspector General of Police of the Nigeria Police Force, Usman Alkali Baba disclosed that 203 people have been arrested and 18 firearms have been recovered during presidential elections.