An adage in eastern Nigeria says ‘a man does not sit at home and a got will give birth tied to a stake’. This is exactly what a former Nigerian president, Dr. Olusegun Obasanjo, attempted to fulfil when he threw in some words, at a time Nigeria is having a crucial election.
That statement he published with demands from President Muhammadu Buhari and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) did not go down well with the presidency.
As such, Minister of Information and Culture, Mr. Lai Mohammed, has responded with demands.
The Buhari-led government says what the Nation expects from a self-respecting elder statesman like the former president as it awaits the outcome of the elections are words and actions that douse tension and serve as a soothing balm.
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Mr Mohammed urged the former President not to truncate the 2023 General Elections with his inciting, self-serving and provocative letter on the elections.
Obasanjo Calls For Re-election
Dr Obasanjo, in his statement had insisted that INEC officials at operational level had been compromised.
According to him, the compromise of the commission is no secret, as it is glaring for all to see.
The former president said “the Chairman of INEC may claim ignorance but he cannot fold his hands and do nothing when he knows that the election process has been corrupted”.
Obasanjo further called for a rerun election next Saturday in areas that were marred with violence.
Government Expects More
Reacting to Obasanjo’s statement on Tuesday, Mr Mohammed said what the former president cunningly framed as an ‘appeal for caution and rectification’ was nothing but a calculated attempt to undermine the electoral process and a willful incitement to violence.
In a statement by his Special Assistant to the President (Media), Segun Adeyemi, the Minister expressed shock and disbelief that a former President could throw around unverified claims and amplify wild allegations picked up from the street against the electoral process.
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”Though masquerading as an unbiased and concerned elder statesman, former President Obasanjo is in reality a known partisan who is bent on thwarting, by subterfuge, the choice of millions of Nigerian voters,” he said.
Mohammed recalled that the former President, in his time, organised perhaps the worst election since Nigeria’s return to democratic rule in 1999, hence he is the least qualified to advise a President whose determined effort to leave a legacy of free, fair, credible and transparent election is well acknowledged within and outside Nigeria.
”As the whole nation waits with bated breath for the result of last Saturday’s national elections, amid unnecessary tension created by professional complainants and political jesters, what is expected from a self-respecting elder statesman are words and actions that douse tension and serve as a soothing balm.
Election In Nigeria Is Not A Mean Feat
”Instead, former President Obasanjo used his unsolicited letter to insinuate, or perhaps wish for, an inconclusive election and a descent into anarchy; used his time to cast aspersion on electoral officials who are unable to defend themselves, while surreptitiously seeking to dress his personal choice in the garb of the people’s choice. This is duplicitous,” he said.
Lai Mohammed reminded the former President that organising elections in Nigeria was not a mean feat, considering that the voter population of 93,469,008 in the country is 16,742,916 more than the total number of registered voters, at 76,726,092, in 14 West African nations put together.
He said: ”With a deployment of over 1,265,227 electoral officials, the infusion of technology to enhance the electoral process and the logistical nightmare of sending election materials across our vast country, INEC seems to be availing itself creditably, going by the preliminary reports of the ECOWAS Electoral Observation Mission and the Commonwealth Observer Group, among other groups that observed the election.
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”Therefore, those arrogating to themselves the power to cancel an election and unilaterally fix a date for a new one, ostensibly to ameliorate perceived electoral infractions, should please exercise restraint and allow the official electoral body to conclude its duty by announcing the results of the 2023 national elections.
”After that, anyone who is aggrieved must follow the stipulated legal process put in place to adjudicate electoral disputes, instead of threatening fire and conjuring apocalypse.”
