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Buhari Warns Obasanjo

President Muhammadu Buhari’s led Federal Government has issued a stern warning to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo following his open letter on the elections.

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed in a statement said:

“What former President Olusegun Obasanjo cunningly framed as an ‘appeal for caution and rectification’ is nothing but a calculated attempt to undermine the electoral process and a willful incitement to violence.”

“How can a former President throw around unverified claims and amplify wild allegations picked up from the street against the electoral 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.”

“Former President Obasanjo in his time, organized 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.”

“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.”

“Former President Obasanjo should be reminded that organizing elections in Nigeria is 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.”

“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.”

“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.”

For those who don’t know, Obasanjo had on Monday written an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari expressing his worries over the conduct of the 2023 presidential election and accusing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of having failed the country.

Obasanjo also alleged that there were massive rigging of the election and wondered why the Electoral Act 2022 as amended was trampled upon.

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