President Muhammed Buhari would not say whether he would hand over power to the eventual winner of the February 16, 2019 presidential election in the event that he loses the elections. When Kadaria Ahmed put the question to him whether he would hand over power if he fails to win at the February 16, 2019 elections, he went memory lane to recount the many times he contested for the office of the president but failed to be declared winner. He argued that in those occasions when he had lost he was told that if does not like the outcome of the elections he should go to court.
President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo were on a live TV town hall programme tagged ‘The Candidates’ jointly organized by Nigerian Television Authority and Daria Media. The Programme was moderated by Kadaria Ahmed and featured questions from the audience through various platforms aired live on NTA Network station and other media stations.
Even when Ahmed repeated the question and demanded a yes or no answer from president Buhari, he parried the question once again. He argued that in the previous elections where he had lost the votes of Nigerians never counted, as the election umpire and supervisors merely allocated votes to candidates as they preferred and when any one questioned them they asked that dissenters should go to court.
President also made an indirect reference to the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) case of Walter Onnoghen, chief justice of Nigeria (CJN during the interview.
Ahmed, executive director of Daria Media and the anchor, had asked Buhari to react to the allegations that the anti-corruption war is one-sided.
In his response, Buhari said: “Well, I think it is unfair criticism. I don’t think there is anybody in this administration that has been pointed out as corrupt and we looked in the other direction.
“When I came in 1984, we arrested the president, vice-president and ministers. They were all under investigation for corruption. But this time around, it is different. People are not just arrested based on allegations. There are ongoing investigation.
“I decided to come now, and now I have to be careful because people are not just arrested like that. If they make the wrong declaration, and they are eventually uncovered, they face the court.”
Asked to clarify if he was referring to Onnoghen, Buhari stylishly avoided the question.
The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) had filed a six-count charge of false assets declaration against Onnoghen after a petition by the Anti-Corruption and Research Based Data Initiative (ARDI).
Moderator Cautions Osinbajo
During the interview the Ahmed had to caution Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, asking him to allow President Muhammadu Buhari express his personal view on the authenticity of a video depicting Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State allegedly receiving bribes from a contractor.
Osinbajo, who had interjected on several occasions, attempted to bail out his principal who was reluctant to answer the question.
“He can talk for himself,” the moderator retorted.
Buhari later responded, “As I told you, I have seen the clip. I don’t know how much technology was used but can Ganduje fail to trust someone to take it to him? Does he have to take it himself? Smiling? I honestly am overwhelmed. The system has given me some relief; it is in court. It is in the state assembly. So, let them as much as possible deal with it.
“This has received a lot of publicity and I hope by the time I visit Kano for my re-election campaign, there would be some answers from the courts and assembly in Kano State.”
