Why Buhari didn’t intervene in Adamawa poll drama – FG

The Federal Government has said President Muhammadu Buhari did not intervene in the governorship poll drama in Adamawa State because the matter was within the purview of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof Mahmoud Yakubu, to handle.

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said this on Wednesday while speaking with State House correspondents.

Mohammed stated this at the end of the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, at the Council Chambers, Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The minister, who also explained why he said the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, should be tried for treason.

He maintained that the just concluded elections in the country were the most transparent and rancour-free elections in recent times due to the introduction of the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System, BVAS, adding that President Buhari did not use security to rig elections in favour of the ruling party.

Asked why Buhari did not intervene in the alleged misconduct of Adamawa REC, Mohammed said the INEC Chairman was saddled with the responsibility of handling election matters.

“I don’t think this government has ever intervened in the way INEC conducts elections, so there was no need for us to intervene. It was entirely an INEC affair and INEC handled it.

“The chairman of INEC is in charge of all employees of INEC and he is handling it, so what do you want the government to do?

“The President does not micro-manage any institution under him. I think you should go and ask INEC. INEC handles all these agencies,” he said.

Reminded that INEC had written a petition to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, to take the alleged unwholesome display of the Adamawa REC to the President, he maintained that the INEC chairman was capable of handling the matter.

On his trip to the US and why he accused Peter Obi of treason, he explained that since Obi did not rebuke his running mate, Datti Baba Ahmed, for saying that if the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, was sworn in on May 29, that would be the end of democracy in the country, it meant Ahmed said the mind of Obi.

He said, “I went to the US to balance the skewed report about the just-concluded elections. And everywhere I went, I said very unambiguously that the last general elections in Nigeria were the most transparent, freest and authentic.

“That’s despite the efforts of the opposition to delegitimize or discredit the elections. And I forwarded my position there that a few reasons why these elections were the best was because, one, deployment of technology, especially BIVAS, made it pretty difficult for anybody to do the usual things before which were over-voting, stuffing ballots and the like, because once it takes your biometrics you can’t go twice.

“Secondly, I said because the President also showed that he promised that he will provide a level-playing ground which he did. In the first instance, Mr President did not confer any advantage on his ruling party.

“That is why as far as he was concerned, he would rather lose the election than win at all costs and the results showed it. The President lost the presidential election in his state of Katsina. It has never happened in Nigeria, for a sitting President to lose the election in his own state.

“I went further to say that the president also prevented anybody from misusing security to rig elections. Of course, the last election is largely the least violent in the history of Nigeria.

“What I said about Mr Peter Obi is very clear. I said, Mr Peter, has every right to seek redress in court like Labour Party. But nobody has the right to call for insurrection or to threaten to say that if the President-elect is sworn in that would be the end of democracy.

“That was precisely what the running mate of Mr Peter Obi said on television. And I have not heard Peter Obi rein him in or correct him. So, if your running mate says something, of course, he was saying it on behalf of the party and the candidate.”