Oba
The Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria, Lagos State Area Unit, has told the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) to discard the former president Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s letter on the suspension of the ongoing presidential vote collation.
The MSSN’s President, known as Lagos Amir, Miftahudeen Thanni, made the statement on Tuesday, adding that the letter was “unnecessary and biased.”
In the letter, Obasanjo calls on Buhari to order the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, to stop collating election results and clear the allegations against the Independent Electoral Commission from different sectors.
PunchMetro had on Monday reported that the results of the general election that was held on February 25 were being collation by INEC.
The announcement so far has spurred many negative reactions especially those challenging the credibility of the votes that are being collation.
For instance, the agent of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dino Melaye, and some others walked out of the collation room claiming that the All Progressive Congress had connived with INEC to manipulate results.
The Labour Party on the flip side also rejected the results being presented by the Independent Electoral Commission.
In the statement made by Thanni, he “expressed shock that a former president would be suggesting actions capable of truncating Nigeria’s democracy.”
“Can other elders admonish former President Olusegun Obasanjo not to put the nation into a blazing fire? That letter was unnecessary at a point when the country is tense.”
He expressed that the former president is elderly and should rather call for calm instead of the letter he had written.
Thanni further stated, “This electoral process must continue and by God’s will the antics of forces trying to bring disunity among Nigerians will fail. Why should an ex-president be making unconstitutional suggestions?
“The votes of the people must count. The ideal step to take is that any aggrieved candidate should seek redress in court. Truncating the election is a piece of bad advice.”
The MSSN amir, however, expressed concern over the inability of INEC to transmit election results electronically, saying,
Expressing the society’s concern over INEC’s inability to transmit election online, he said, “Though we are also concerned about the inability of INEC to transmit election results, the letter by Obasanjo shows that he’s acting a script and has a hazardous mission that must be checked.”
“Or are the results being announced in Abuja different from what was announced at the state level?” he asked.
“We do not want anarchy in this country. It is our future that is at stake not that of Obasanjo. The president and INEC should jettison the former president’s bias, distorted thoughts and suggestions.”
He then urged Buhari to discard the suggestions of Obasanjo and face the compilation of the electoral results.
In his words, “Buhari must ignore people who want to spoil his legacy through suggestions that are capable of having an interim government in Nigeria.”
“Dear President, please discard Obasanjo’s letter. This process must be completed. The choice of the people must be respected and declared. The whole world is watching,” Thanni admonished the President.