President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday said in the forthcoming 2019 general elections, Nigerians must be allowed to vote for candidates of their choice.
He said citizens’ will should not by any means be tampered with.
According to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, while receiving members of the Joint United Nations, African Union and ECOWAS Good Offices Mission on Elections at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Adesina qouted Buhari as assuring his guests that the 2019 polls would be free and fair.
“The President has only one vote, governors have a vote each, just like anybody else.
“Let the people vote for whoever they choose, without their will being tampered with,” the President said.
Buhari said Nigeria had left that era in which democratic norms were brazenly subverted, with votes awarded to those favoured by the authorities, and the shortchanged told to go to court if they were not happy.
He added, “I am highly qualified to talk on this, having ended in the Supreme Court three times, after participating in elections with disputed results.
“Where will a man looking for where his next meal would come from, have money to hire lawyers, particularly senior advocates?”
Thanking the joint team for being in touch with Nigerian institutions, particularly the Independent National Electoral Commission, the President noted that multi-party democracy gives lots of choice to the people.
