2023 Election Was Not Perfect – Buhari’s Aide Admits As He Praises President For Free And Fair Election

The media aide to President Muhammadu Buhari, Femi Adesina has said that his principal has done well in delivering a free and fair election despite the anomalies during the voting process.

Adesina while speaking via his article titled “FOR PMB, IT’S NIGERIA, AND NOTHING ELSE,” noted that in preparation for the 2023 elections, the President’s first loyalty was to the country despite that he is a party man.

The aide stated that some All Progressives Congress stalwarts were so blown off by Buhari’s doggedness they began to suspect that he was against the candidacy of the party flag bearer.

He said, “In some other lands and climes, elections are held on weekdays, in which people cast their votes, and proceed to the office, or other places of endeavor.

But here, we must first die many times before our death, when elections approach. Many are the doomsday scenarios painted, that we do not know whether to stay in the country or show a clean pair of heels. To japa, as the new lingo has it.

“But do you blame Nigerians? No, you shouldn’t. History has shown us that one election is progressively worse than the other in the country. Well, till President Muhammadu Buhari came in 2015.

“I was already here, but too young to remember the elections that led to ‘Operation Wet e’ (douse with petrol and set ablaze) in the mid-60s, which caused severe unrest in the Western part of the country, and eventually culminated in seizure of power by the military, and dovetailed into the Civil War.

“What of June 12, 1993? The mother of it all. Peaceful build up, calm polls, but how did it end? In a fiasco. The winner, Basorun MKO Abiola couldn’t assume office, as the ‘owners’ of the country annulled the election, and foisted an Interim National Government (ING) on us. It ended in another military adventurism.”

Speaking further Adesina argued that Nigeria’s elections have improved after Buhari took over In 2015.

He however noted that the 2023 election was far from perfect and in the long run it was not those who voted that mattered but those who counted the votes

“But Muhammadu Buhari won the very pulsating race for power in 2015, and since then, our elections began to improve. Off-season polls didn’t have to be won by the party in power, through hook or crook. Let the people choose whoever they wanted, and we saw it in bold relief in Ondo, Kogi, Bayelsa, Anambra, Osun, Ekiti, and many other places. The mantra of President Buhari is; “let us respect our people, and let them choose whoever they want, across the party lines. Yes, I want my party to win, but then, our candidates must work for victory.

“The first phase of the 2023 elections has been held, to elect a new President, and National Assembly members. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been declared the winner and issued a Certificate of Return. Was it a perfect election? Not so. Electronic transmission of results failed, due to technical glitches, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had to resort to manual collation. Joseph Stalin, the Soviet Union tyrant had been credited with saying: “Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything,” he added.