By Nasir Kura
President Muhammadu Buhari Monday had a close-door meeting with Governor Simon Bako Lalong of Plateau state over the supplementary governorship elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to be held in the state on Saturday, March 23, 2019.
The president also met with Governor Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar of Bauchi, one of the six states INEC planed to hold rerun elections on Saturday. Others are Adamawa, Benue, Kano and Sokoto.
With the exception of Sokoto whose governor is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the other five states where rerun polls would be conducted are being controlled by the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The Presidency said Sunday that the president would not interfere in the planned rerun elections to favour any political party including the APC on whose platform he was elected for a second term.
A statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Garba Shehu, said the Independent National Electoral Commission is in charge of the electoral processes in the country, and president would not meddle into its affairs.
The statement reads: “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 Independent 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.”
The statement said under President Buhari, the Independent National Electoral Commission had been and would 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,” the statement said.
