Senior Special Assistant to President Buhari on Media and
Publicity, Garba Shehu, says the president will neither interfere with the
supplementary polls in five states nor ask the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) to change results in favour of the ruling All Progressives
Congress (APC).
Shehu said this in a statement released on Sunday March
17th. According to him, some APC leaders expected Buhari to abuse his office by
usurping the powers of INEC to turn the tables in their favour. He said INEC is
fully in charge of electoral matters in the country, advising party leaders in
the affected states to work hard to earn the votes of the people. Read the full
statement below
The Presidency has cautioned against a lot of the hate
spewing, incitement to violence and the polarizing statements by so-called
political leaders as a number of states brace up for supplementary elections
prescribed by the National Electoral Commission, INEC.
The Presidency also rejects unfair and ridiculous criticisms
of President Muhammadu Buhari's apparent disinterest in the upcoming elections
in some states by party members who wrongfully assume that the President will
abuse power by changing results to favour them.
Past Presidents of Nigeria were known to interfere in
inconclusive elections, and that is why party members appear to be upset that
the same thing is not happening now, but President Buhari is a different kind
of leader. He swore to defend the constitution and will not veer off from that.
The constitution of Nigeria gives the President no such
powers. It is unfair and ridiculous to criticise President Buhari for not going
against the constitution.
Party members in states where there will be supplementary
elections then need to be reminded that they need to work hard to earn their
people's votes, rather than expect President Buhari to manipulate INEC in their
favour.
Interestingly, while members of the ruling APC party were
criticising the President for not interfering on their behalf, members of the
opposition were condemning the President based on their assumptions that he
would definitely interfere, as many in the opposition did while in power.
Under President Buhari, INEC had been and will be completely
independent throughout the elections, free from any interference.
President Buhari is a man of conviction, and the
manipulation of election results goes against everything he stands for INEC is
completely in charge.
