President Muhammadu Buhari won 2019 election squarely freely as expressed by electorates – Umar Duhu
The pioneer North East Vice Chairman of the All Progressive Congress, Umar Duhu, has stated that President Muhammadu Buhari, has won the 2019 general elections freely. Hon. Duhu made the disclosure while reacting on the recent report released by United Nations which described the elections as falling behind the standard of the 2015 elections. Reacting in an interview with our reporter in Yola, the party stalwart faulted the report and described it as laughable.
According to him, the 2019 general elections did not only met the standard of the previous elections but it was one of the free, fair and credible elections conducted in the history of the country. He bolstered that there were not most cases of elections violence such as ballot snatching, thuggery as used to be witnessed in the previous elections except some few cases recorded in some states in the south.
However, he decried that the numbers of people that mostly came to observed elections by these international organization are not much compared to the numbers of polling units and registration areas the country have. Thus, he said their report cannot invalidate the result of election because it failed behind the electoral law. Therefore, Hon. Duhu advised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to scrutinize the report and take the necessary part they deem is good for them to use to improve in the future elections.
Also reaction, Honourable Dahiru Hammandikko, corroborated with Duhu, noting that the 2019 general elections was free, fair and credible. He maintained that the elections has not only met the standard of the previous elections but was one of the most free, fair and credible elections ever conducted in the country. However, he observed whenever the international observers came to monitor elections in Nigeria, would stay in Abuja and wrote whatever they want to write as their report.
Consequently, he called on the people of Nigeria to disregard this report and continue to pray for President Buhari for God to give him more health, wisdom and grace to deliver more dividends of democracy to the nation.
It could be recalled that the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and International Republican Institute (IRI), have in their report released on Tuesday 18/06/2019, tagged the recent completed 2019 general elections as falling behind the standard of the 2015 elections.
The report maintained that “the last minute postponement of the Presidential and National Assembly elections on the morning of February 16, 2019 and delays in opening of polling units and other administrative challenges on February 23 undermined public confidence in the Independent National Electoral Commission. Thus, the report maintained that the 2019 general elections has significantly fell short of standard of 2015 elections.
It further noted that “citizen’s confidence in the elections was shaken,” according to Dr. Daniel Twining IRI President. Therefore, the report suggested that stakeholders should take concrete steps to address the concerns of citizens with regards to the polls in order to rekindle their faith in the power of and possibility of credible elections,” he said.