Gen Muhammadu Buhari has petitioned the Inspector General of Police (IG), Mr. Suleiman Abba, over the morbid advert sponsored by Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State and published on the front pages of two national dailies of January 19, 2015.
In the petition signed by the Governor of Rivers State and Director General of the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation, Chibuike Amaechi, the organisation condemned PDP and Fayose for portraying its candidate as “a dead man walking” to scare Nigerians from voting for him in the February 14 election.
According to the petition, “The portrayal of Buhari as likely to die in office just like past northern leaders such as Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, General Sani Abacha and General Murtala Mohammed was morbid and reckless and such an irresponsible political advert is not only in bad taste, but also capable of undermining law and order in the country.”
The petition said insinuating the death for a man who is still alive based on unscientific logic or a prediction was capable of causing a breach of the peace across the country.
The APC campaign petition also drew the attention of the IG to the fact that Fayose’s advert violated the spirit and letter of the Ambassador Kofi Annan’s initiative, which had Nigerian political parties and their presidential candidates signing a peace accord.
It therefore urged the IG to investigate the origin of Fayose's “sinister and inhuman” advert and call him to order with a view to preventing a repeat of such provocative publications in the interest of peace.
The APC presidential campaign organisation said copies of the petition had been sent to the Department of State Security (DSS), Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) and The Sun and The Punch newspapers
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