ADC knocks Edo APC chair over ‘AK-47’ threat – Daily Trust

The Edo State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Jarret Tenebe, has come under criticism after threatening to invoke the “power of AK-47” against anyone who attempts to frustrate the party’s plan to secure 2.5 million votes for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election.

Tenebe made the remark at an APC gathering in Benin City while speaking about the party’s mobilisation efforts and its target of delivering 2.5 million votes for President Tinubu in the state. Reports of the remark have since drawn condemnation from opposition groups and rights advocates.

In a video of the event, Tenebe was heard referring to different forms of “power” against those he said might stand in the way of the party’s vote target.

“So anybody who refuses, who wants to stand in our way of not getting the 2.5 million votes we want to give to Mr President, AK-47 fire,” he said.

Daily Trust also reports that it was the same Edo APC chairman who stirred controversy when he appeared during the Osun governorship election as observer of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Tenebe’s picture in an INEC-customised vest, which went viral during the election triggered criticisms from opposition parties and constitutional lawyers, amid questions over why a serving state chairman of the ruling party would be allowed to participate in an election exercise and play a role expected to be independent and neutral.

The remark by Tenebe has attracted condemnation from the African Democratic Congress Presidential Campaign Council (ADC-PCC), which described it as an alleged threat capable of intimidating voters and undermining the 2027 elections.

The Director of Media and Publicity of the ADC-PCC, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement on Sunday, said the council was concerned that the chairman of a ruling party could publicly make such a statement.

“We are shocked that a state chairman of a ruling party, Mr. Jarrett Tenebe, can stand before the public and threaten Nigerians with AK-47 rifles if they refuse to vote for his party, the APC.

“This is terrorism, and not politics. This is the height of desperation by a party that has failed Nigerians woefully,” Ologbondiyan said.

He said the ADC-PCC had expected the APC leadership and President Tinubu to condemn the statement or demand its retraction but had received no such response.

Ologbondiyan also alleged that some APC members had increasingly resorted to intimidation and harassment following President Tinubu’s reported statement that “all is fair in politics.”

The council consequently called on the Inspector-General of Police, the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to invite Tenebe for questioning over the alleged threat.

It also appealed to the international community, including the United Nations, European Union, African Union, ECOWAS and the United States, to monitor developments ahead of the 2027 elections and encourage a peaceful and credible electoral process.

Also speaking, a political analyst in Edo State, Dr Samson Isibor, described Jarret Tenebe’s comment as reckless and completely unacceptable to Nigerians.

Isibor, who is the National chairman of the Peoples Assembly for Good Governance (PAGG), called on Nigerians to take the comment seriously, saying it was coming from a senior official of the nation’s ruling political party.

“It is something the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been planning, but it is just that it is now coming out from someone who can’t keep secrets, and he is the arrowhead of the APC in Edo State.

“So, it is terrible for him to have voiced out such a threat of violence in preparation for the general election, and it should not be taken lightly by the security agents,” he said.

Isibor called on the police and the Department of State Services (DSS) to take action, noting that they would have swung into action if a member of the opposition party had made such a statement.

“I expected the police and DSS to have picked him up for questioning, but they are looking the other way because he is a member of the ruling party.

Meanwhile, efforts to get reaction from the police wasn’t successful and calls put across to their phones were unanswered.

The development comes against the backdrop of a series of threatening statements by political actors ahead of the 2027 elections. In August, the chairman of Kuje Area Council in the Federal Capital Territory, Danjuma Shekwolo, told residents that they either supported the All Progressives Congress (APC) or left the area council. Shekwolo later clarified that the remark had been taken out of context, stressing that he had no right to disenfranchise any resident.

Also in August, Senator Francis Fadahunsi, representing Osun East Senatorial District, came under criticism over a video in which he was heard telling APC supporters to “kill” members of the opposition Accord Party ahead of the August 15 governorship election.

Fadahunsi later explained that he meant supporters should defeat the Accord Party with their votes rather than physically attack its members. The police subsequently invited him for questioning over the remarks, which it described as threatening, inciting and intimidating.

The statements by Shekwolo and Fadahunsi, as well as Tenebe’s reported “AK-47 fire” remark, have heightened concerns over the language being used by political actors as preparations intensify for the 2027 elections.