The Minister of Information and Culture, Mr. Lai Mohammed, has admonished former President Olusegun Obasanjo not to truncate the 2023 general elections with his inciting, self-serving and provocative letter on the polls.
The minister’s position comes as a retired general and Chief of Defence Staff, General Alani Akinrunade, stated that the recent statement by former President Olusegun Obasanjo over the recently concluded elections must be condemned in the strongest terms by democracy loving Nigerians and those who care about the unity of this country.
“His (Obasanjo) statement coming at a time when the Independent National Electoral Commission was still busy with the conduct and release of the elections results is both unfortunate and a glaring and calculative attempt to game the system. Without any shred of evidence, a former President is challenging the integrity of … national elections and calling a seating President to truncate it midway.”
Akinrinade, and Lai Mohammed are known supporters of All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Senator Bola Tinubu, just as Obasanjo has openly declared his support for Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi.
Recall that former President Olusegun Obasanjo called for fresh elections for March 4, urging the cancellation election results where the BVAS and servers were manipulated or rendered inactive.
He said on Monday evening, that results without the BVAS and Server did not reflect the will of Nigerians.
He pointedly told President Muhammadu Buhari and INEC chairman Prof Mahmood Yakubu to save the nation from the looming danger.
Said Obasanjo, “I strongly believe that nobody will toy with the future and fortune of Nigeria at this juncture….
“As far as the election issues were concerned, the President had proved beyond reasonable doubt that he would want to leave a legacy of free, fair, transparent and credible elections.
“Until last Saturday night, February 25, 2023, the good and noble plan and preparation for the elections seemed to be going well. For the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), a lot of money was spent to introduce Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), and the Server for immediate transmission of results from polling units.
”It is no secret that INEC officials, at operational level, have been allegedly compromised to make what should have worked not to work and to revert to manual transmission of results which is manipulated and the results doctored.
“The Chairman of INEC may claim ignorance but he cannot fold his hands and do nothing when he knows that election process has been corrupted and most of the results that are brought outside BVAS and Server are not true reflection of the will of Nigerians who have made their individual choice.”
“At this stage, we do not need wittingly or unwittingly to set this country on fire with the greed, irresponsibility and unpatriotic act of those who allegedly gave money to INEC officials for perversion and those who collected the blood money. Let me appeal to the Chairman of INEC, if his hands are clean, to save Nigeria from the looming danger and disaster which is just waiting to happen.”
Mohammed’s said Obasanjo’s statement coming at a time when the Independent National Electoral Commission was still busy with the conduct and release of the elections results is both unfortunate and a glaring and calculative attempt to game the system. Without any shred of evidence, a former President is challenging the integrity of a national elections and calling a seating President to truncate it midway. Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
The statement was made available to the media by Mr Segun Adeyemi, the Special Assistant to the President (Media) Office of the Minister.
Mohammed said what the former president cunningly framed as an ‘appeal for caution and rectification was nothing but a calculated attempt to undermine the electoral process and a willful incitement to violence.
The minister expressed shock and disbelief that a former president could throw around unverified claims and amplify wild allegations picked up from the streets 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,’’ he said.
Mohammed recalled that the former president, in his time, organised perhaps the worst elections since Nigeria’s return to democratic rule in 1999.
According to the minister, Obasanjo is the least qualified to advise a president whose determined effort to leave a legacy of free, fair, credible and transparent elections 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 elections and a descent into anarchy.
“He 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,’’ he said.
The minister reminded the former president that organising elections in Nigeria is not a mean feat.
He said the process was not a mean feat considering the fact that the voter population of 93,469,008 in the country was 16,742,916 more than the total number of registered voters, at 76,726,092, in 14 West African nations put together.
Mohammed said that the process was not a mean feat considering the deployment of more than 1,265,227 electoral officials, the infusion of technology to enhance the electoral process and the logistical nightmare of sending election materials across the vast country,
The minister said INEC was 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 elections.
“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.
“They should 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.
Akinrinade said that as a General who fought for the unity of the country and someone who has witnessed the developments of Nigeria’s democracy, he was certain that Nigeria was on the right path.
“I find it most disturbing and objectionable that a former General and President will introduce such a diatribe into the body politic of Nigeria at such a delicate time as this.
“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.
“Nigerians can easily recall the obasanjo years and his democratic antics and many bullish attempts at circumventing the political process.”
He called on President Muhammadu Buhari to ignore Obasanjo and focus on supporting the lawful institution to do its job by allowing the process to run it’s full course.
He said further: “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.
“Nigerians have voted. Their votes have counted. Let no one disrupt the process.”