The President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government has told former President Olusegun Obasanjo to desist from truncating the electoral process via his provocative, inciting and self-serving letter.
Amidst allegations of irregularities and rigging of 2023 presidential election held on 25 February, the former president of Nigeria released an open letter calling on President Buhari to prevail on the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to halt the collation process currently going on in Abuja and address concerns raised regarding the conduct of the election.
The elder statesman lamented danger in the country if the concerned authorities failed to act in order to calm the tension in the country.
But responding to the message by Obasanjo, Lai Mohammed, the Information Minister, via Segun Adeyemi, the Special Assistant to Buhari on Media, in a press statement, described Obasanjo’s letter as a wilful incitement to violence and a planned attempt at undermining the process of election.
The statement by FG said the former president pretended to be a concerned and impartial elder statesman, but was really partisan and determined to frustrate the will of the people.
The Minister of Information and Culture accused Obasanjo of organizing one of the worst polls since the restoration of civil rule in 1999, adding that such advice ought not to proceed from someone like him.
According to Mohammed: ”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 dousetension 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 todress his personal choice in the garb of the people’s choice. This is duplicitous,” he further 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.
”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,” he said.
