Former head of state and presidential candidate of the Congress for
Progressive Change (CPC) in the 2011 election, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.),
yesterady warned that unless the Jonathan Administration allows for a free and fair election come 2015, nobody
would claim victory.
Buhari said there was no doubt Nigeria would be
divided and all candidates in the general elections of that year would lose out
unless justice was done to all.
The former ruler sounded this grim warning in his
hometown Daura during the launch of an empowerment scheme initiated by Senator
Hadi Sirika.
Buhari described the results of previous elections
as a mess and total cheating of the innocent electorate, saying Nigerians will
witness a “new development” in 2015.
“Nigerians will see a different Nigeria in 2015,
because what happened in 2007 and 2011 will never happen again,” he said.
Buhari, easily the leading opposition figure in the
country, argued: “We were cheated in the previous election; we went to court
both in 2007 and 2011 to challenge the results. But we will not go to court
after the 2015 election.”
The CPC leader stated firmly in the Hausa language:
“Ko a yi zaben gaskiya, ko kuma kowa ya rasa,” meaning ‘there should be either
a free and fair election or else everybody will lose’.
He pointed out that he alone could not restore the
lost glory of the country unless good Nigerians support him, saying Nigeria
lost its glory since the coming of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to power
in “a dubious manner.”
He urged the Nigerian electorate in general to
emulate the people of Igabi local government area who protected their votes in
the recent council elections in Kaduna state.
According to him, the recent elections in Sokoto and
Adamawa states were a mere child’s play because “there was no election,” and
that this resulted to the high increase of poverty and unemployment in those
states.
Buhari said he was satisfied with the performance
of CPC-elected government officials across the country, saying their
performance was as a result of their having been elected in a transparent
manner.
Source: Blueprint
