THE Presidency rejected criticism from members of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) who frown at his failure to intervene in favour of the party in states where gubernatorial elections were declared inconclusive.
It noted in a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media & Publicity), that such party members expected the President to interfere because past Presidents had done so in the past.
But the statement vowed that President Buhari, having sworn to defend the constitution, would not go against it by such interference in the electoral process.
The presidency pointed out that while APC members were angry that he has refused to intervene on their behalf, members of the opposition were also accusing him of planning to change the results.
The presidency however assured that Buhari was not the type to manipulate elections.
The statement titled: “INEC fully in charge, President Buhari won’t change election results,” read:
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“The Presidency has cautioned against a lot of the hate spewing, incitement to violence and the polarising statements by so-called political leaders as a number of states brace up for supplementary elections prescribed by the National Electoral Commission, INEC.
“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 power by changing results to favour them.
“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, but President Buhari is a different kind of leader. He swore to defend the constitution and 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.
“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.
“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.”