A message by a former Nigerian president to President Muhammadu Buhari, INEC and Nigerians is not sitting well with the presidency.
As a result, there is pulling out of records from under the carpet and attacking of the former president.
Basically, the former leader is not finding the electoral process interesting, being that INEC appears to have abandoned the much talked about BVAS in collation of results.
He documented his opinion in a statement he made public on Monday.
But the Buhari-led Nigerian government has scolded him, saying he (Obasanjo) organised the worst election in the history of Nigeria.
The government says he is the least qualified individual to advise Buhari on how to conduct a credible election.
The administration pleaded with him to refrain from sabotaging the 2023 general elections with “his instigating, self-serving, and provocative letter on the elections”.
In a statement sent by his media assistant, Segun Adeyemi, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, established the government’s views about Obasanjo’s letter.
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The statement claims that the previous president’s plea for the current president to get INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu to delay the collation of election results and look into the charges made against INEC from various sources was an intentional effort to sabotage the electoral process.
Worst Election Since 1999
The minister expressed amazement and disbelief that a previous president could assert things without any evidence and propagate ludicrous accusations about the voting process.
”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 alleged that Obasanjo, 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.
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”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 aspersions 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”.
