Group Slams Edo APC Chair Over AK-47 Threat

The Peoples Assembly for Good Governance (PAGG) has launched a blistering attack on Edo State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Jarrett Tenebe, over his reported threats of “AK-47 fire” against anyone standing in the way of the party’s ambition to deliver 2.5 million votes for President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election.

In a statement issued on Friday and jointly signed by its National Chairman, Dr. Samson Isibor, and National Secretary, Chukwuemeka Nkama, PAGG described Tenebe’s remarks as “reckless, inflammatory and completely unacceptable in a democratic society,” demanding that the APC chairman be held accountable for his utterances.

The group was reacting to a video reportedly circulating publicly on October 2, 2026, in which Tenebe, while addressing an APC gathering in Edo State, allegedly invoked “General Purpose Machine Gun power” before declaring “AK-47 fire” against those who might obstruct the party’s 2.5 million-vote target for Tinubu.

PAGG described the comments as a disturbing resort to violent language by a senior official of Nigeria’s ruling party.

The organisation said it was particularly alarming that a party chairman would invoke assault rifles and machine guns in the context of electoral mobilisation, warning that such statements could intimidate opposition supporters, instil fear among voters and undermine peaceful political participation.

“Elections are won through persuasion, policies, programmes, credible candidates and the free choice of voters not through references to assault rifles, machine guns or threats against political opponents,” the group declared.

PAGG further warned that no political party owns the votes of Nigerians, insisting that every registered voter has a constitutional right to freely choose candidates without intimidation.

It said the suggestion that a predetermined electoral target could be achieved through threats of “AK-47 fire” was an affront to democratic principles and the freedom of citizens to make their political choices.

The group consequently challenged the national leadership of the APC to publicly distance itself from Tenebe’s reported remarks and clarify whether threats involving firearms had become an acceptable instrument of political mobilisation within the party. It also called on relevant law-enforcement and electoral authorities to investigate the circumstances surrounding the statement and determine whether any Nigerian law had been violated.

PAGG equally challenged Governor Monday Okpebholo and other senior APC leaders in Edo State to publicly address the controversy, warning that their silence could create the impression that violent political rhetoric was tolerated within the ruling party.

“Silence in the face of such inflammatory language risks creating the impression that such conduct is tolerated within the party.

“The ballot box is not a battlefield, political opponents are not enemies, and elections are not wars,”

Declaring that Nigeria’s electoral process must not be turned into a battlefield, the organisation insisted that political opponents were not enemies and that no party had the right to threaten citizens over their voting choices.

PAGG declared, vowing to resist any attempt by the APC or any other political organisation to replace democratic persuasion with threats of violence.