Polls: FG, Akinrinade fire OBJ over letter to Buhari

The Federal Government of Nigeria yesterday warned former President Olusegun Obasanjo against truncating the 2023 general elections with his inciting, self-serving and provocative letter on the polls.

This is even as former Chief of Army Staff, General Alani Akinirinade, also yesterday described Obasanjo as a present danger to the nation’s democracy by his utterances.

Recall that the former President had on Monday, called for the suspension of the announcement of results of the presidential election, following the irregularities that trailed it, and asked President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene.

But the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, who gave the warning, 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 in statement signed by the Special Assistant to the President (Media), Office of the Minister of Information and Culture, Segun Adeyemi, “expressed shock and disbelief that a former President could throw around unverified claims and amplify wild allegations picked up from the street against the electoral process”.

He said: ”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 recalled how the former President, in his time, organized “perhaps the worst election since Nigeria’s return to democratic rule in 1999”, adding that Obasanjo is the least qualified to advise a President whose determined efforts to leave a legacy of free, fair, credible and transparent election is well acknowledged within and outside Nigeria.

”As the whole, the nation waits with bated breath the result of last Saturday’s national elections, amid unnecessary tension created by professional complainants and political jesters.

”What is expected of 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 election and a descent into anarchy; 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 organizing elections in Nigeria was not a mean feat, considering 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.

He added: ”With the 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.”

Reacting in the same vein, former Army chief, General Alani Akinrinade, condemned Obasanjo’s letter to the President, saying he (former President) is constituting himself a threat to the nation’s democracy.

Akinrinade, who was also Chief of Defence Staff, said in a statement yesterday: ”Without any shred of evidence, a former President is challenging the integrity of national elections and calling on a sitting President to truncate it midway.

”As a General who fought for the unity of this country and one that has witnessed the many twists and turns of our democratic development, I am certain that Nigeria this time is 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 the state which 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.

”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. Nigerians have voted. Their votes have been counted. Let no one disrupt the process.”