Why I Did Not Interfere In Edo Election – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari, on Friday, received Governor Obaseki of Edo State and his deputy, Philip Shaibu, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

Obaseki’s visit to Buhari came about one week after he won the Edo governorship election.

The duo was said to have visited the president to thank him for ensuring that the Edo governorship election was peaceful and devoid of interference.

Obaseki had defected from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to seek re-election after he was disqualified from partaking in the election by his former party.

He had defeated APC’s Osagie Ize-Iyamu in the election that was held on September 19.

But despite resigning from Buhari’s party, Obaseki said he owed the president the courtesy visit for his “insistence that the right things be done.”

Meanwhile, President Buhari told his guests that his main desire was to ensure that innocent citizens do not suffer regardless of party affiliation.

According to NAN, the president humorously told Obaseki that he “reluctantly” congratulated him because he (Obaseki) defeated the candidate of his party at the polls.

Buhari said: “I thank you for bringing your deputy and supporters to come and see me after beating my party.

“I am supposed to preside over all Nigerian interests whether I like it or not, but my single desire is to make sure that innocent people don’t suffer. That message I got across to the Inspector General of Police, that elections must be free and fair.

“If contestants have too much money and they decide to spray, so be it. But what I insist is, nobody should go and raise a counter force to the government, arm heavily-drugged thugs to go and humiliate people.”

“I want Nigerians to appreciate that I respect them as Nigerians and that I am bound by the oath I have taken, that their security is in the hands of God and in the hands of the government, which I am leading.”

Buhari said his desire was to leave behind a political culture built on integrity.

“We have lost states across the country. Now I do not like to escape the responsibility, seeing as the leader of the country, I am also the leader of my party, that I am not leading the party very well.

“I am trying to make sure that the party is built on a civilised basis, rule of law and respect for human rights and human beings, right from polling units to local governments, to states up to Abuja and that’s what I have been insisting as my contribution to the National Working Committee and executive of the party.

“I know we are a developing country, a developing economy and trying to develop our political culture.

“I want the development of political culture to be based on integrity and accountability. Let people work very hard and earn what they are looking for through their hard work and through fair competition,” he said.

Governor Obaseki had said in his remarks: “You would recall a couple of weeks before the election, I came to see you and you assured me that we were going to have a free, peaceful and credible election.

“That is what we had during the election of Sept. 19 and the whole world has acclaimed that Edo election was perhaps one of the best conducted in recent times in Nigeria.

“This could not have been possible without your insistence that the right things be done, and for that, we want to say thank you very much.”

Obaseki added that President Buhari’s congratulatory message to him after his victory gave him the assurance that, “it is God that made this election possible, therefore I should be humble about the election and also magnanimous in victory.”