National leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, has
denied alleged plans to rig the 2019 general elections by mobilising both
money and electorate materials from his house at Bourdillion apartment in
Ikoyi, Lagos.
Tinubu, shortly after casting his vote at his polling booth in Alausa,
Lagos, said he has a right to his own money and not in custody of public
funds.
A video making the rounds on social media showed bullion vans allegedly
stuffed with either money or electoral materials, emerging from an
apartment said to be Tinubu’s residence in Ikoyi.
Addressing reporters, Tinubu said: “Bullion vans, are those ballot papers?
Where am I voting now? Is it my money or government’s money? I don’t work
for government. I am not in any agency of government and let anyone come
out to say I have taken any contract from the government of President
Muhammadu Buhari of APC in the last five years. They should prove it.
“I am on my own and I am committed to my party. So, even if I have money
to spend in my premises, what’s your headache? I don’t represent any
government’s agency. If I have money, I’ll give it to whomever I like; to
the people free of charge, as long as it is not to buy votes. So, who are
those watching my house? They must be mischief makers,” he said.
Tinubu, however, expressed satisfaction with INEC’s conduct of the
rescheduled election, saying the democratic processes, just as in air
travel, are bound to encounter bad weather and turbulence, after which
stability is restored.
He also expressed readiness to accept the outcome of the general
elections, even if the electorate vote out his party.
“I will accept it (if the election is skewed against APC). That is the
people’s verdict. That is their decision. Any democrat that cannot accept
the results of a free and fair election is not worthy of the name – a
democrat. You must be able to accept the result of a free and fair
elections,” Tinubu said.