President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday, said his government will not allow anyone to use money and thugs to intimidate Nigerians at the polls come 2023. This was as he said Nigerians will vote for the leader of their choice in the 2023 elections as they are “now wiser” and “know better.”
President Muhammadu Buhari has claimed that elections are now difficult to rig in Nigeria, while noting that Nigerians should decide whatever political party they want in 2023.
According to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, the President stated this at State House, Abuja, while playing host to West African Elders Forum Pre-Election Mediation Mission, led by former Sierra Leonean President, Dr Ernest Bai Koroma.
The statement was titled “President Buhari to West African Elders: our election will be free, fair, credible.”
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“Thank you for accepting to do this service for our sub-region,” the President told his guests, citing off-season elections held in Anambra, Ekiti and Osun States, as pointer to the fact that the Federal Government would allow people to choose leaders they want.
“That right is guaranteed,” President Buhari said in a statement issued by his spokesman, Femi Adesina.
“We are settling down, and making progress. People should vote whoever they want, in whatever party. We shall not allow anyone to use money and thugs to intimidate the people. Nigerians know better now, they are wiser, and know that it is better to dialogue than to carry weapons. Elections are even more difficult to rig now.”
Former President Koroma, who led a team made of former Vice President of The Gambia, Fatoumata Tambajang; former Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations, Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas; and Ann Iyonu Executive Director of Goodluck Jonathan Foundation, said they had met with stakeholders across the parties, civil society, and Independent National Electoral Commission, among others,
He commended President Buhari for not listening to voices that might have tried to convince him to seek a third term in office, against the laws of the country, noting that “other countries look up to Nigeria for direction.”
He urged President Buhari to look into other areas of concern as raised by the stakeholders, including security, and “issues that may cast doubts on the clarity and credibility of the elections.
