Garba Shehu, spokesman of
President Muhammadu Buhari, says the president will neither interfere with the
supplementary polls in five states nor ask the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) to change results in favour of the ruling All Progressives
Congress (APC).
In a statement on Sunday, Shehu
said some APC leaders expected Buhari to abuse his office by usurping the
powers of INEC to turn the tables in their favour.
He said INEC is fully in charge
of electoral matters in the country, advising party leaders in the affected
states to work hard to earn the votes of the people.
Shehu said unlike the past when
presidents influence outcome of elections, Buhari would not deviate from
upholding the constitution.
He said some members of the
ruling party are unhappy with Buhari over the stance but the president would do
only what is acceptable by the law.
“The presidency also rejects
unfair and ridiculous criticisms of President Muhammadu Buhari’s apparent
disinterest in the upcoming elections in some states by party members who
wrongfully assume that the President will abuse his power by changing results
to favour them” he said.
“Past presidents of Nigeria were
known to interfere in inconclusive elections, and that is why party members
appear to be upset that the same thing is not happening now.
“President Buhari is a different
kind of leader. He swore to defend the Constitution and he will not veer off
from that.
“The Constitution of Nigeria
gives the president no such powers. It is unfair and ridiculous to criticise
President Buhari for not going against the Constitution.
“Party members in states where
there will be supplementary elections then need to be reminded that they need
to work hard to earn their people’s votes, rather than expect President Buhari
to manipulate INEC in their favour.”
He said while APC members were
expecting Buhari to interfere, the opposition too had concluded that the
president would use INEC to assist his party to victory.
Shehu said Buhari would not play
to the wishes of anyone in the supplementary elections, insisting that the APC
must work hard to earn votes.
“Interestingly, while members of
the ruling APC party were criticising the president for not interfering on
their behalf, members of the opposition were condemning the president based on
their assumptions that he would definitely interfere, as many in the opposition
did while in power,” he said.
“Under President Buhari, INEC had
been and will be completely independent throughout the elections, free from any
interference.
“President Buhari is a man of
conviction, and the manipulation of election results goes against everything he
stands for. INEC is completely in charge.”
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