People

Prof sabitu olagoke 1

Re-Election of President Buhari Divine, But A Lot Still Has to Be Done-Grand Imam Shafaudeen-in-Islam

Prof sabitu olagoke 2Nigerians woke up on Monday morning to receive the news that the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) Prof. Mahmood Yakubu had declared President Muhammadu Buhari  the candidate of the All Progressives Congress(APC)the winner of Nigeria's  presidential election, a few minutes to 4.00 AM, while they were still in bed.

However, the timing of the declaration, saved the country of widespread protests, as Nigerians continue to insist that the electoral process was not free, fair and credible, in addition they lamented that the whole process had been compromised long before the elections.
Already, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) Alhaji Atiku Abubakar  has rejected the results and vowed to challenge the results in the law court, just as he promised to reclaim his mandate.
In this interview with People, the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafuadeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olgaoke  says the re-election of President Buhari is purely divine, even though a lot still has to be done. Excerpts :
 
What is your reaction to the victory of the incumbent President at the just concluded presidential elections ?
 
The battle for the prestigious and sensitive position of the President among the 73 presidential candidates has come and gone. But the real battle was between President Muhammadu Buhari and former Vice President Abubakar Atiku.
Ideally, President Buhari was not supposed to have any problem, but an easy sail to victory, if his state Governors had  performed up to expectation in their various states, where the ruling APC  was supposed to have very close contact with the people, which would have resulted in a resounding impact on their lives.
Sadly,contrary was the case and this could be seen  in the outstanding performance of the PDP, in a number of states, including Oyo and Ondo states.
In these two states  particularly, people have been hurt and irredeemable damage inflicted on them by their expected saviour- the APC government in the states.
Besides this , employment was toyed with by the APC government at all levels.
The APC victory was based on the political passion and sentiments of the people for President Buhari, who was daily insulted by the opposition and whose party , the APC, was bedeviled by intrigues and pockets of civilian coup de Grace, if only the APC had lived up to expectation there would not have been any chance for the PDP to rise again to the level of wrestling power from the ruling party.
Nigeria 6The re-election of President Buhari is purely divine, because according to our yearly predictions from Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, it was revealed that the party and some of its big names would fall by the wayside, despite the efforts they might put up to save their faces, but President Buhari would be re-elected against all odds, the Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and other retired Generals factors notwithstanding.
The prediction went on further to state that the former Vice President, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku would be deceived by some of his home men to play him out, his spending power notwithstanding.
Besides all these, the campaign messages of the two parties influenced the pattern of voting.
For example President Buhari said that he would continue to hunt for treasury looters, although Nigerians are not all that impressed with the anti-corruption fight.
On the other hand the former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku declared that he would grant amnesty to treasury looters caught so far and that the NNPC would be sold, which brought back the memory of the privatization saga and the Halliburton scandal.
Also, Former President Obasanjo's book ''My Watch'' which outlined the corrupt tendencies of the Former Vice President has not helped matters.
 
Nigerians were therefore left to choose from the two. This ultimately resulted in the present situation, despite the fact that the electoral process was fraught with anomalies, which Prof. Yakubu considered not to be significant enough to declare the election inconclusive or null and void.
 
What is most important now, is for INEC to perfect the shortcomings in logistics, the malfunction of the Smart Card Readers as well as the very major area of security, which must be strengthened for the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections, for it to be peaceful and without any hitch.
The spirit of sportsmanship must be imbibed by all parties to give peace a chance.
Equally important is for the emerging government to avoid party dictates that may be offensive to the possible formation of a strong government that would walk the talk.
 
The winner takes all syndrome must be rejected because the functions and responsibilities of governance are in need of people who are serious, patriotic, disciplined and who have zero tolerance for corruption.
Such people must be skill based, but unfortunately, no single party has a monopoly of these vital elements. These elements cut across party lines and also transcends political parties.
This is the only way by which all congratulatory messages to Mr. President elect could be meaningfully justified in the next political dispensation.
 

Alhaji Abubakar Atiku President Muhammadu Buhari Nigeria Election Independent National Electoral Commission