Group commends Buhari’s neutrality in guber polls

Tom Okpe, Abuja

The Bihari Media Organization (BMO) has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for his neutrality in the just concluded governorship election.

The group also said that Buhari will at the end of his second term in office, bequeath to Nigeria a robust democratic space that many Nigerians will be proud of, pointing out that this is obvious from his deliberate non-interference in the just concluded governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections.

In a statement signed by its Chairman, Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke respectively, the BMO said Buhari did not go out of his way to ensure that the All Progressives Congress (APC) got undue advantage in last Saturday’s elections.

“It was unthinkable that a ruling party in Nigeria would lose crucial states so soon after winning a presidential election. Nigerians are used to Presidents using their enormous powers to retain their party in power at state level at all cost, regardless of the people’s will, but President Buhari has shown himself to be different.

“Here is a man who won by a landslide in Kano, Bauchi and Sokoto states two weeks ago, but did not lean on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure victory for APC candidates in last Saturday’s election in those states.

“The close contest in those states invariably led to some people questioning his margin of victory without considering the Buhari phenomenon which transcends party leanings and affiliations, especially in Northern Nigeria.

“Oyo is another hitherto, APC stronghold which the party lost to the Peoples Democratic Party gubernatorial candidate by a big margin without the President making any effort to influence the outcome”, the group said.

BMO says President Buhari deserves credits for this principled stand, asserting that previous Presidents used federal might to retain states in which their candidates lost, while Buhari has shown that he is a statesman with a different mindset.