A former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Timi Frank has alleged that President Bola Tinubu was intimidating, blackmailing and mounting intense pressure on five opposition governors to defect to the ruling party.
He added that while those who would remain in the party have been made to sign undertakings to deliver their states to Tinubu otherwise they would be made to lose their second term elections.
Frank in a statement issued Wednesday said Tinubu does not believe in the power of the people.
He said the President was setting the South against the north because of personal ambition.
He added that to Tinubu, the 2027 election is about him versus the North, saying that was why he was trying desperately to enlist the support of the South through manipulation and subterfuge.
Frank noted: “As we speak, at least five opposition governors are set to defect to APC not because they like Tinubu but due to intense political pressure, intimidation and blackmail, while those who will remain have been made to sign undertakings to deliver their states to Tinubu otherwise they will be made to lose their second terms elections.
“Tinubu does not believe in the power of the people. Tinubu is working to steal the election results, to grab it and run away with it like he did in 2023.
“If the North can’t see the omen of imminent regional stagnation and destruction, they will regret it if they do nothing to stop Tinubu in 2027,” Frank warned.
“Tinubu does not believe in democracy and that is why he has succeeded in ensuring that PDP, Labour Party and any other opposition parties are enmeshed in intractable internal crisis in order to deny capable and qualified aspirants platforms to challenge him in 2027.
“His singular aim is to retain power in 2027 by hook or crook. He is doing all he can at the detriment of Nigerians, a complete negation of the oath of office he swore to on assumption of office as President.”
He added that while Tinubu is on the one hand blackmailing Southerners, especially opposition governors on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP) and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) by playing the ethnic card to gain support, he is on the other hand threatening to deal with them if they fail to support him by declaring a state of emergency in their states over spurious charges of violence and corruption.
Frank added that 2027 should not be about North or South but who would fix the myriads of challenges confronting the country.
He noted: “He has increased the intensity now by blackmailing, intimidating and putting at least five PDP Governors from the South under duress to defect along with their members in the National Assembly to the APC.
“To Tinubu, the 2027 election is about him versus the North and that is why he is trying desperately to enlist the support of the South through manipulation and subterfuge. He has forgotten so soon that the North helped him to get to power in 2023.
“Nigerians are in need of a President who will help Nigeria become better, not ‘Northern candidate or Southern candidate’ or ‘Northern President or Southern President’.
“The country is overcharged already with divisions along ethnic lines. We therefore can’t afford to have a President who is setting one region against another for the sake of his own personal ambition.
“For me, Timi Frank, as a Southerner, I don’t believe in tribalistic and a divisive president. I believe in a leader that will come and unite rather than divide Nigeria.
“I advise every Northerner still supporting Tinubu to have a rethink. They should know that the North that apparently ‘assisted’ Tinubu to gain power in 2023 are suffering the most today.”