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See What Prof Mogalu Says About President Buhari’s Victory At The Polls

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Afghanistan: Nigeria Must Never Deal With Taliban - Moghalu

The presidential candidate of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), Kingsley Moghalu, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to form an inclusive government with competent people, following his re-election on Saturday.

Mr Moghalu said in a statement sent to media houses as his first reaction since the Presidential and National Assembly elections.

Although the YPP candidate did not congratulate the president on his re-election, he said on the basis of his being announced the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), he owed Nigerians an inclusive and competent government.

He said this was the only way we “can heal our land and take millions of Nigerians out of crushing poverty.”

The former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said the Buhari administration must establish a new, philosophically and conceptually grounded approach to economic management in the country.

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This, he said, must go beyond mere economic growth statistics to urgent priority to real economic development and structural transformation for our country.

He offered to be part of the engagement process to bring about a new economic system in the country over the long haul.

“Our struggle for a better and well-governed society, a productive and inclusive economy that breaks the backbone of poverty, and to restore Nigeria’s leadership role in the world continues. I for my part will remain engaged in that struggle over the long haul,” he said.

He expressed sadness over the violent loss of lives during the elections, saying the vote was marred by operational failures of INEC.

 

Apart from massive vote-buying and vote-rigging through various methods, he said the credibility of the election was called to question by the complicity of the two major political parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the malpractices. He rejected the number of votes tallied for him by the INEC during the election, saying it did not represent anything close to the electoral strength of his candidacy.

“These false numbers were the result of brazen theft of our votes and the suppression of our voters,” he said.

With the outcome of the elections, Mr. Moghalu said it appears the desire for real change in the country’s polity and governance in 2019 far outweighs the strong determination by Nigerians to change the incumbent government through the ballot box.

Describing 2019 as the “last gasp of the old political order that has robbed Nigeria of real development,” he said he was confident of a change by 2023.

He called for fundamental reforms in the country’s electoral system for our democracy to have real meaning.

Elections, as they are organised and executed today in Nigeria, are a travesty,” he said.

He identified the areas requiring urgent reforms to include the systems of registration, voting, and collation of votes.

“As of today, these processes are tedious, inefficient and prone to risks and performance failures such as those we have experienced. We can make the processes more transparent through better use of technology,” he said.

Besides, he said government be ready to issue stiffer punishment for electoral offences and ensure stricter enforcement of accountability in the electoral process. On the involvement of Nigerians in Diaspora, he said since the have continued to remit billions of dollars home every year, immediate action must be taken to ensure they are able to vote from 2023.

Read the full statement  Here

“I was very saddened by the loss of lives to various acts of violence during the February 23 presidential election and elections into the National Assembly. My heartfelt condolences go to the families that lost loved ones and I pray that those injured will recover soonest. The operational failures of INEC in the conduct of the elections, the massive vote-buying and vote-rigging through various methods as well as violence in several locations in the country have left the credibility of the election open to question.

” The APC and the PDP have both been complicit in the malpractices. The number of votes tallied for my candidacy by the INEC did not represent anything close to the electoral strength of that candidacy.

These false numbers were the result of brazen theft of our votes and the suppression of our voters. ‘’It appears, however, that the strong determination of many of our citizens to reject the APC at the ballot box far outweighed the desire for real change in our polity and governance in 2019.

“Although we did not win this election in terms of overall numbers of votes, the presidential election result is an indication of where our society is at present. 2019 is the last gasp of the old political order that has robbed Nigeria of real development.

‘’I trust and believe that this situation will change by 2023. As we move forward as a country, we need fundamental reform of our electoral system if our democracy is to have any real meaning. Elections as they are organized and executed today in Nigeria, are a travesty.

We need to reform the systems of registration, voting, and collation of votes by making the processes more transparent through better use of technology. As of today, these processes are tedious, inefficient and prone to risks and performance failures such as those we have experienced.

We also must stiffen punishment and enforce accountability for electoral offenses. Nigerians in Diaspora have continued to remit billions of dollars home every year. Our fellow citizens living abroad must be able to vote overseas as from 2023.

“Immediate action to achieve this goal is required once the present elections are over. President Muhammadu Buhari, who INEC announced as the winner of the 2019 presidential election, owes Nigerians an inclusive, competent government that can heal our land and take millions of Nigerians out of crushing poverty.

“This calls for a very different approach from recycling poverty through the APC government’s unsustainable populist initiatives that fail to create jobs or improve actual economic productivity and living standards.

“A new, philosophically and conceptually grounded approach to economic management that goes beyond mere economic growth statistics to real economic development and structural transformation remains an urgent priority for our country. Our struggle for a better and well-governed society, a productive and inclusive economy that breaks the backbone of poverty, and to restore Nigeria’s leadership role in the world continues. I will remain engaged in that struggle over the long haul.”