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  • Updated: February 28, 2023

Obasanjo Organised The Worst Election Since Return To Democracy — FG

Obasanjo Organised The Worst Election Since Return To Democr

The open letter written by Former President Olusegun Obasanjo to President Muhammadu Buhari seeking the cancellation of the ongoing collation of election results and the conduction of fresh pools has been castigated by the Federal Government (FG).

The Federal Government in reaction to the letter on Tuesday accused the former President of presenting himself as a saint after organising the worst election since Nigeria returned to democratic rule.

According to the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Obasanjo's "inciting, self-serving and provocative letter on the Mohammed elections" aimed at sabotaging the electoral process. 

Mohammed expressed shock that the former President could stoop so low to transmit unverified claims and strengthen absurd allegations gotten from the street against the electoral process.

This is as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of unethical behaviour during the exercise.

”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,” Mohammed said.

The minister maintained that the former President “organised perhaps the worst election since Nigeria’s return to democratic rule in 1999, hence he is the least qualified to advise a President whose determined effort to leave a legacy of free, fair, credible and transparent election is well acknowledged within and outside Nigeria.”

He further stated: "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 election and a descent into anarchy; used his time to cast aspersions 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.”

Muhammed, however, urged those unsatisfied with the election result to seek redress in courts.

”With a 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.

”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 explained.

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