News Report: Buhari's Crowds Unsettle PDP

The Crowd At One Of Buhari's Rallies

The large crowds that have been turning up at Muhammadu Buhari's presidential campaigns, especially in the North have unsettled the national leadership of Peoples' Democratic Party(PDP). Buhari is the presidential flag bearer of the Congress For Progressive Change(CPC).

The major worry of the ruling party, chidi opara reports learnt, is that the Buhari crowds are mainly from states controlled by the PDP.

Security agencies, especially, the State Security Service(SSS), we learnt also have been instructed by the President, at the prompting of his party, to keep close watch on Buhari and his running mate, Pastor Tunde Bakare.

There have also been allegation by the PDP recently that Buhari's supporters have been destroying campaign structures of President Goodluck Jonathan in the northern states. The Buhari campaign organization through its spokesperson, Mr. Yinka Odumakin have however dismissed the allegation as "PDP cheap blackmail".

A contact at the Police national headquarters in Abuja confided in chidi opara reports that there is no evidence so far that Buhari or his running mate is involved directly or indirectly in what the contact described as "the unruly behaviours of Buhari's supporters".

Despite this lack of evidence, the Police have allegedly started what a CPC insider described as "their usual intimidation". Unconfirmed information at our disposal has it that the security details of the CPC gubernatorial candidate in Katsina state have been withdrawn on the orders of the Police high command.

SSS contacts have confirmed to us that the security agency is worried that the Buhari crowds are mainly made up of the segments that can be manipulated into violence easily.

Muhammadu Buhari had contested for the Presidency in 2003 and 2007 on the platform of All Nigeria Peoples Party(ANPP). He left the party in 2010 after several misunderstanding with the party's leadership to form the CPC. Shortly after emerging the CPC presidential candidate, he chose radical Lagos based pastor and activist, Tunde Bakare as running mate.

It is believed in government and security circle that if he feels cheated in the 2011 presidential election, Buhari may call his supporters out for protest. He had earlier issued a news release, calling attention to the anti-government protest in Egypt which ousted Hosni Mubarak. Buhari who lost election petitions on two occasions at the courts had reportedly said that he would not contest the outcome of the 2011 presidential election even if he was robbed of victory and would not restrain his supporters from taking laws into their hands.