The Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party Governors’ Forum (PDP-GF), Rt. Hon Aminu Waziri Tambuwal has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure that he bequeath a legacy of free and fair elections on the country at any time such opportunity arises before he hands over power in 2023.
Tambuwal, who is also the Governor of Sokoto state, made the appeal in Benin, Edo state capital, Saturday, at the PDP’s inauguration of Gov. Godwin Obaseki as the party’s governorship candidate in the forthcoming gubernatorial election billed to hold in September this year.
He advised President Buhari that despite the insecurity challenges his administration faces, he should ensure that free and fair elections are held in the country as he disengages.
He also called on the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu, whose credentials he described as unassailable to take a cue from his predecessor, Prof. Attahiru Jega.
“You shouldn’t allow anybody to use you,” he admonished Prof. Yakubu, stressing that the lessons of Prof. Jega must be upheld and replicated in 2023.
Gov. Tambuwal who indicated that the PDP was in Edo state on a mission of “total and complete liberation of the state from godfatherism, stated that the erstwhile Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole who rode to popularity on the crest of anti-godfatherism now wants to force himself on the people.
“You cannot eat your cake and have it. You have been all over the place condemning godfatherism; and now you want to come to Edo and have it,” the PDP-GF Chairman said.
He called on Gov. Obaseki to continue to be firm in his faith in God. “That was what we did in Sokoto to survive all of the forces from across Nigeria that wanted to oust us,” he recalled with nostalgia.
Before the formal inauguration, Gov. Tambuwal along with his colleagues from Bauchi, Bayelsa, Delta, Oyo, Rivers and the Deputy Governor of Ondo; as well as the entire leadership of the PDP had paid a courtesy visit on the Benin monarch, His Royal Majesty, Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku Okpolopolo, Oba Ewuare II at his palace.
