Posted by From CHIDI NNADI and PETRUS OBI, Enugu on
Second Republic governor of Kano State, Alhaji Muhammed Abubakar Rimi on Tuesday denied reports that he had swallowed his earlier criticisms of the flawed 2007 general elections, even as he insisted that the elections were rigged.
Second Republic governor of Kano State, Alhaji Muhammed Abubakar Rimi on Tuesday denied reports that he had swallowed his earlier criticisms of the flawed 2007 general elections, even as he insisted that the elections were rigged.
Rimi, a former chieftain of the Action Congress (AC) who has since returned to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said the report on Tuesday was not a true account of his position.
The one-time Communications Minister was quoted to have said at a campaign rally in Kaduna last weekend that the PDP had always won elections through popular votes. That claim is believed to run contrary to his earlier stand that the 2007 elections were massively rigged in favour of the ruling party.
While reacting to the report, Rimi said he would never change his position on the rigged polls.
His words: 'I didn't say the elections were not rigged. I'm repeating that the elections were rigged and stand by that. I didn't make any U-turn."
The PDP leader, while explaining what transpired at the event, said the state governor, Alhaji Mohammed Namadi Sambo, had invited him to give a pep talk to participants at a campaign launch organized by the state chapter of the PDP for its aspirants in the forthcoming local government elections.
'I was invited by the governor to attend the event at the Ranchers Bees Stadium. The PDP had elected their candidates. I gave flags to candidates from three local governments. Senator Makarfi, the former governor was there. Isaiah Balat and other dignitaries were there. My speech to the candidates was just to call on them to ensure free and fair elections," he said.
According to Rimi, he enjoined the contestants to ensure that the PDP remains united. 'I challenged them to concentrate on giving results to the electorate who put them in office. I said they should not engage in frivolous activities, like buying houses or marrying more wives. I told them to use their time and resources for the benefit of the electorate. I didn't, in my speech, refer to the 2007 elections in the remotest sense. I did not say PDP didn't rig the 2007 elections."
The former governor who claimed to have been in politics for over four decades, said he couldn't have made a U-turn on his earlier stand, even as he stated that he feared nobody.
'I repeat what I said when I was in AC that the 2007 polls were rigged. Whatever PDP did may have to be corrected in future. I have been in politics for 44 years. I don't fear anybody in Nigeria. I never doublespeak. I don't do money politics," Rimi stated.
The politician accused his former party, AC, of unleashing a malicious campaign against him, saying the party's fortunes had waned considerably since he left last October.
Said he: 'Since I left the AC at the end of October, 2007, there has been a deliberate and organized campaign of calumny against me, to put me in bad light because AC knows my departure from the party had caused the party a great damage.
'On the 3rd of January, the entire AC in Jigawa State decamped to the PDP and I was there to receive them in Dutse. Governor (Sule) Lamido was there. AC is afraid of this. A lot of people had left the party because I left. They joined the AC because I was there and they have left the party now."