By Uche Amunike
President Muhammadu Buhari has continued to defend the victory of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, despite the accusing fingers pointed towards the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for alleged irregularities and compromise witnessed during the Presidential and National Assembly electoral exercise of February 25, 2023, by not only Nigerians, but the international community.
Speaking, through a statement signed by Presidential Spokesperson, Mallam Shehu Garba, concerning the president’s recent trip to Doha, Qatar, Muhammadu Buhari stated that he never at any point, considered annulling the February 25 election as was witnessed on June 12, 1993, when the late MKO Abiola presumably won the presidential election.
So many international media and civil society organizations, as well as election observers have criticized the February 25 election which produced Tinubu as the President-elect. These organizations have condemned the polls in several media platforms, listing different aspects of the electoral process that left much to be desired.
To all these, Muhammadu Buhari declared that the results were justified and stated: ‘Bola Tinubu’s election stands. If you are aggrieved, and you have the locus to do so, go to court.’
Garba Shehu said in his statement, that President Buhari utilized the opportunity of the Fifth United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries in Qatar to gain support for in-coming government of the new President-elect as the country undergoes a political transition.
Speaking on the need to give their support to Tinubu’s in-coming government, he said it was expedient, ‘So that Nigeria will continue to be the beacon of hope and prosperity in our continent and an example for other African countries to emulate.
Hear him: ‘In addition to other things, this trip, more than any other, speaks to the courage, political stamina and statesmanship with which the president has managed the affairs of the nation’.
He continued: ‘Shehu recalled that; in the build-up to the trip, he was faced with orchestrated attempts to poison public opinion against national institutions, particularly, the presidential election and its conduct by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as an institution, against which vile and unsubstantiated allegations were hurled.’
‘The clear intent of this was creating an atmosphere of fear, polarising the public and demonising the administration of the president. The wishful thinkers appeared to assume that the June 12, 1993 election crisis, the worst ever since the civil war, could be recreated.‘
‘Those who sought to do this forgot what the president said at the palace of the Gbong-Gwon Jos, when he went to the city to inaugurate the Tinubu-Shettima campaign: ‘this election will not be annulled; whoever is the winner will be president.’
According to the presidential spokesman, ‘Buhari not only muted himself following the cacophony, he picked up international travel: ‘Bola Tinubu’s election stands. If you are aggrieved, and you have the locus to do so, go to court.’
Shehu stated that the aim of the conference was to majorly mobilize solidarity actions, political will, actions and solutions to transform the Leadt Developed Countries (LCDs), by proffering solutions to the challenges of food insecurity, poverty, inadequate health facilities, infrastructural lapses , hunger, etc.
