Alani Akinrinade, a former chief of army staff, has asked
President Muhammadu Buhari to ignore the advice of former President Olusegun
Obasanjo on the ongoing electoral process.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Akinrinade said
Obasanjo’s advice “falls short of patriotism and fits perfectly into meddling
in the affairs of state”.
On Saturday, Nigerians voted in the presidential and
national assembly elections.
But the elections continued in some polling units on Sunday
owing to logistics.
Over the last 48 hours, the major opposition parties —
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP) — have alleged that the
results being declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
have been manipulated.
On Monday, Obasanjo asked Buhari to take urgent steps to
address the concerns raised over the alleged discrepancies regarding the
results of the election.
The former president said elections marred by irregularities
should be rescheduled.
Responding to Obasanjo’s comment, Akinrinade said Nigerians
can recall how the former president oversaw the “worst election in history” in
2007 and attempted to extend his term.
“Being not neutral, Obasanjo’s intervention falls short of
patriotism and fits perfectly into meddling in the affairs of state that is
already the constitutional responsibility of INEC,” he said.
“Nigerians can easily recall the Obasanjo years and his
democratic antics and many bullish attempts at circumventing the political
process.
“I call on President Muhammadu Buhari to ignore Obasanjo’s
recent interruptions and focus on supporting the lawful institution to do its
job by allowing the process to run its full course.
“The President Buhari
I know will let the process run its full course and will not intervene in an
undemocratic manner to truncate the ongoing political process.
“Luckily, President Buhari is made of finer and more
principled democratic stuff.
“He will not allow Obasanjo to lure him into tainting his
democratic credentials in this regard.
“I recall that in his last trip to the United States,
President Joe Biden praised Buhari’s commitment to democratic values and
principles. Obasanjo has no such record to be applauded.
“The world has not
forgotten his fraudulent and undemocratic attempt at a third-term agenda in
violation of the letter and spirit of the Nigerian constitution.
“In 2007, after his botched third term bid, Obasanjo
conducted the worst election in the history of Nigeria.
“The beneficiary of
that electoral heist, Late President Umaru Yar’Adua openly admitted that his
presidency was a product of a fraudulent election with a commitment to reform
the electoral process.”
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
Obj conducted elections in 2003 and 2007 with do or die slogans and without any iota of credibility . In fact considering results of election in 1999 where states were having 2 millions votes this 2023 election is the most credible apart from Kaduna State no other states produced 1 million votes
ReplyDelete