Minister of Transportation and Director-General of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Organization, Rotimi Amaechi has faulted the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) over its stance to petition the United Nations and other global democratic institutions over the involvement of the military in ongoing general elections.
The main opposition party at the end of the meeting of expanded caucus held on Monday said the conduct of the presidential and national assembly elections was heavily militarised.
The resolution read in part: ” Caucus further noted the role of the military in the February 23 elections and resolved that we will report the action of the military through a petition to the United Nations as well as other global democratic institutions on the role of our military in the February 23 elections.”
Speaking with newsmen on Tuesday, the former Rivers State governor submitted that the highest superior authority in Nigeria is President Muhammadu Buhari. He equally described as misplaced, the remarks of the PDP National Chairman, Uche Secondus, that there might be no election in the country in 2023.
ALSO READ: Bauchi APC youth leader sacrifices 16 camels to celebrate Buhari’s victory
He said: “If the chairman of PDP says no election in 2023, I cannot fight because I have a chairman. I think you know my chairman. He is equalled to take up the PDP chairman.
” The truth is that the chairman of PDP is not the president of Nigeria. Not even the president of Nigeria can stop the election in 2023 because there is a constitution. And, to say you are going to the United Nations, there is no superior authority to the constitution. I know that among the three arms of government the Constitution is supreme. The constitution has stated that after every four years there will be an election. Neither, the PDP nor APC chairman can say there will be no election in 2023.
“The UN doesn’t have business in Nigeria because under this Buhari government, no superior authority. The highest superior authority in Nigeria now is Muhammadu Buhari.”
The Minister of Transportation described the outcome of the presidential election as a referendum on the Buhari administration and said the present administration was determined to turn around the economic fortune of the average Nigerian.
“The purpose of this press conference is to thank Nigerians for supporting the reelection of President Muhammadu Buhari. They turned out in large number to vote Buhari back to power. I don’t know how true it is but I saw on the social media that the New York Times paper wrote that it was a contest between corruption and integrity.
” Election is over and we are no longer discussing corruption but want to implement the policies that will ensure that the money that belongs to Nigeria are kept for Nigerians alone. The cardinal point that the president has continuously focused on fighting against corruption and the need not just to rehabilitate the economy but also to make it grow, because of the challenge we faced under PDP in 2015.
“He has said that the economy will not grow if we don’t focus on security and ensuring that lives are secured all over the country. We are basically saying that none of those cardinal objectives will be forgotten. Good enough, he has said he will run an inclusive government. We are humbled by the number of people that turned out not just for the election but the huge crowd that turned out during campaign. The different character we have in this election is that the support in the south increased and tripled against what we had in 2015. That indicates the acceptability of President Buhari across all parts of Nigeria.
” I told my colleagues that it is only those who failed elections that gather for meetings while the winners just gather to pump Champagne and drink to their victory. We are celebrating but we are conscious of the fact that we want to repeat what Gowon said in 1970, no victor, no vanquished. We enjoin our colleagues in PDP to join us in ensuring that Nigerians benefit from good government.”