I Will Defeat Jonathan In A Free Election –Buhari

2015 Presidency: 

Former Head of State, Gen­eral Muhammadu Buhari (retd), has said should the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conduct a free and fair election in 2015, he would emerge victorious.

Buhari, one of the foremost aspirants for the 2015 presidency on the plat­form of the All Progressives Congress (APC), told Sunday Sun exclusively in Abuja that his emergence would also depend on the choice of Nigerians.

Buhari also gave a word to those who believe that at his age, he should forego the presidency and give way to younger politicians.

According to him, “what the Con­stitution and the Electoral Act are particular about is that Nigerians that have reached the age of 18 onward are entitled to vote and be voted for. They didn’t put a limit to the age.”

Buhari spoke on these, including his past attempts at the presidential race…

How is the campaign go­ing this time around?

I don’t think the campaign has start­ed. The campaign will start when we get the ticket. What we are doing now is going round to see the delegates and ask them for their understanding and support. But the campaign proper will start when we get the ticket.

How is your party far­ing?

I think my party is doing very well. If you consider how we came about, the legacy parties – the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), the Congress for Pro­gressive Change (CPC), the All Pro­gressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the Democratic Peoples’ Party (DPP); we wanted to come together. But APGA and DPP had cases in courts. So, we thought that we better leave them out so that it is not used to delay our registra­tion or even to frustrate it completely. But we gave them the assurance that if we eventually get the registration, they can come in as a group or as individuals.

Would you say you have more confidence in your current outing than the previous ones?

Oh, certainly! To appreciate this, you have to see the significance of the merg­er itself. We decided as far back as 2005, that none of the individual opposition parties can face the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). So, the only way out is for us to merge and then face the PDP.

And if you could recall, there were some political commentators who said merger in Nigerian politics from inde­pendence till now has never succeeded. They doubted and said if ours succeed, we will succeed. But thank God ours succeeded. We are now APC.

What have you done to correct the mistakes of the past?

Which mistakes? Too many mistakes have been done (he laughs). If you can give me some examples of the mistakes, I will tell you how we have gone over them.

Going for an endeav­our and not getting it right is usually be­lieved to have been as­sociated with mistakes.

I see. Well, you are right. I at­tempted the presidential race three times. Three times I lost and three times I ended up in the Supreme Court. On individual basis, my objective, because I believe this is multi-party democratic system and as the best form of governance, is to make sure that while we are stabilizing the system, it is on re­cord of those Nigerians that made some efforts to make sure that the system has been stabilized. So, I am quite satisfied. Although I tried three times and three times I failed, but the fact that I ended up in the Supreme Court, am satisfied that it is being recorded. So, future generations, future Nigerians will know that when the fight to stabilize multi-party demo­cratic system was on, I will like them to know that there were Nigerians that made the necessary sacrifice.

Have you actually sat down to ask yourself why you have not been getting it right?

No! I have been getting it right. For example, look at what happened in the Supreme Court in 2007. There were three justices of the Supreme Court who presided over the appeal from the Court of Appeal. And the justices, three of them, said there should be another elec­tion because the election was not con­ducted according to law. Three justices said well, there were flaws in the elec­tion, but all the same, the ruling party has won. And then, the Chief Justice, decided to cast his vote with the three justices that said that yes, there were flaws, but all the same, the ruling party could have won. So, if the Supreme Court justices can be split, that means the election was controversial.

Are you saying you were cheated?

Well, we gave the evidence and the decision of the three justices that an­nulled the election arose from the facts. We collated them from the field and got them. That shows the contradiction with the Electoral Act. And that was why they annulled the election. The justices were led by retired Justice Oguntande; himself and the previous Chief Justice, Muktar, and one justice from Delta State.

Prior to this time, there has been so much rumour about pressure being mounted on you to step down. Is it true?

No. Step down for who?

We gathered that pres­sures were being mount­ed on you to step down for a younger candidate. Are you saying there was nothing of such?

Yeah! Like the case of the informa­tion of a younger candidate, what the Constitution and the Electoral Act are particular about is that Nigerians that have reached the age of 18 onward are entitled to vote and be voted for. They didn’t put a limit to the age.

But there are those who believe that at this point, you should give way to younger generation. What response do you have for them?

Let them vote for the younger gen­eration (general laughter).

The PDP has given Presi­dent Goodluck Jonathan its ticket to run for the 2015 presidency. What is the assurance that you will defeat him in 2015?

What I am working hard on is, let us force the PDP government, through INEC, to conduct a credible election. Free, fair and credible election! And I believe members of the APC will sub­mit themselves to a free and fair elec­tion. We respect Nigerians. So, let INEC conduct free and fair election.

So, if there is a free and fair election, you must de­feat President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015?

You can’t say free and fair and then you put ‘you must.’ The choice is for Nigerians.

COMMENTARIES:

The Sun.