Buhari ‘Was Tempted’ To Rig Anambra Election – Lai Mohammed

Information Minister, Alh. Lai Mohammed, has revealed how President Muhammadu Buhari resisted the temptation to manipulate the November 18 Anambra election in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Mohammed said “it was quite tempting” for the APC government to rig the election so as to enable the party secure a governorship seat in the South East.

The Minister, who spoke to newsmen on Tuesday, said however that the Buhari government “did not follow the temptation” as it allowed the people’s mandate to prevail.

“For Mr. President, the message is clear: let the people make their decisions.

“If the people now decide to sell their votes, there is nothing the government at the centre can do, but we will continue to drum it and let them understand that vote is the single most powerful weapon they have and once they sell it, they can’t come round again until the next four years to complain about the kind of leaders they have.

“But what I believe is that for us in APC, as a government, we want the people of Nigeria to decide the outcome of every election.

“It is not about who is at the centre, but we did not follow the temptation to use our muscle.

“It was quite tempting because we don’t have any governor in the South East, but we felt it is only fair for the people to decide their own fate,” said the minister.

Mohammed equally spoke on the threat by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to disorder the election.

“I think what that proved really is that IPOB does not represent the good people of Anambra or any state in the South East.

“If truly they represented the people, the IPOB propaganda about the election really showed that they are not on the ground.

“Anywhere you see a sign that says ‘No Thoroughfare’, it means there is a road.

“So, the fact that they were saying that they were going to disrupt the election, that the Federal Government had decided to sew IPOB uniforms for people and that those people would kill and give the impression that IPOB members were responsible, showed that they had lost the game.

“The people of Anambra have shown that there is no alternative to democracy, and that they believe in one Nigeria and federal system of government.

“If there are issues to be resolved, let us resolve them. But terrorism and separatism is not the answer.

“I think the Anambra election has sounded the death knell of IPOB because they said the election would never hold.

“The election has come and gone; the turnout was quite reasonable; every party competed very competitively and, at the end of the day, the people of Anambra decided who was going to be their governor,” he said.