Buratai Denies Meeting with President, INEC over Rigging

Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Yusuf Buratai, has denied meeting with President Mohammadu Buhari and officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over alleged plans to rig the presidential election slated for Saturday.

In a statement issued last night, the army chief cited “unsubstantiated” media reports quoting a former official of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Timi Frank, who alleged that such a meeting between him, the President and INEC officials took place.

Buratai, in the statement said no such meeting took place.

“The Nigerian Army (NA) notes with dismay the unsubstantiated story published by dailypost.ng on February 19. The publication carried allegations by one Timi Frank, that a purported nocturnal meeting took place between the President and Commander -in-Chief of the Armed Forces and the COAS as well as some members of INEC and the President’s cabinet, to rig the forthcoming presidential election”.

“Whilst such an absurdity can be imagined to come from a known disgruntled person like Timi Frank, who has severally tried to malign the person of the COAS, the subsequent lackluster move by Daily Post to publish such unfounded tosh without investigation tells a lot about the reputation of the tabloid”, the statement said.

It further noted that “the deluded Timi Frank who claimed he had incontrovertible evidence provided by sources in the know about the alleged nocturnal meeting “however could not substantiate his accusations with any reasonable facts besides his concocted hogwash”.