A resident of Sokoto State, Nigeria’s North-west, Jamilu Sufi, claims he has been receiving death threats for supporting the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, for the 2023 election in Nigeria.
Mr Sufi, a Muslim, disclosed this via a Twitter post on Sunday.
The LP presidential candidate, Mr Obi, is a Christian, from Anambra State, South-east Nigeria.
He said the person threatening him has also contacted his wife and has threatened to kill her too if he (Sufi) refuses to withdraw his support for Mr Obi.
“I don’t succumb to blackmail and threats,” Mr Sufi said in the post.
He included a phone number which he said belongs to the man who is allegedly threatening him.
“It got to a point that he called my wife and threatened to kill her too. I blocked him but he and other guys continued (to threaten me and my wife),” he further tweeted.
Mr Sufi said the unidentified person speaks Igbo and Hausa languages fluently.
He said the man also sent him voice notes via WhatsApp and threatened to kill him.
Mr Sufi told Premium Times that he had reported the matter to the police in Sokoto State
Mr Sufi has been using Twitter to drum up support in Sokoto State and North-west for Mr Obi and the LP.
He claimed, in one of his posts on the microbloggingsite, to have united the different factions of the LP in Sokoto State, and expressed plan to do the same in other states in the region.
He described Mr Obi as “a president in the making”. Nigeria, he said, would be safe under Mr Obi.
Suspect denies issuing death threats
When Premium Times reached the unidentified person via the telephone number provided in Mr Sufi’s tweet, he denied issuing any threat.
He identified himself as Buhari, although he claimed he belong to the Igbo, an ethnic group that is dominant in Nigeria’s South-east.
The man said he was converted to Islam in Kano State.
“It is not true. Disregard it completely, except you have any evidence to show me,” Mr Buhari said of the allegation of death threats.
When asked if he had ever threatened Mr Sufi, he responded, “I don’t even know anybody with that name. I don’t relate with Peter Obi people completely. I am a card-carrying member of the All Progressive Congress. My name is not Kingsley. My name is Buhari.”
