We Are Not Desperate about Elections, Says el-Rufai

Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, declared on Wednesday in Kaduna that he does not  care whether he wins or loses the March 3 governorship election so long as  the mandate of the electorate is not stolen.

Speaking  at a ‘high level dialogue on peaceful elections in Kaduna State’ jointly organised by the State Peace Commission,  National Peace Commission and the United Nations (UN), el-Rufai said he was not desperate about the election.

He said the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state was committed to peaceful, issues-based campaigns and peaceful elections in the state.

The governor called on politicians to stop buying drugs for the youths and arming them for political thuggery.

He warned that anyone caught with weapons at campaigns “will be arrested by the police and prosecuted whether he is a member of our party or not.

“Let me say this on behalf of the state government that our most important job now is to govern the state. What does governing the state means? Governing the state means ensuring peaceful coexistence during the elections and after.

“We took an oath of office to govern the state on fairness and justice, and we are going to do that till May 29, 2019, whether we are re-elected or not.

“It does not matter if we are re-elected, we will continue to do our best. It also does not matter if we are not re-elected. We will move on with our lives, politics is not our permanent profession.

“This is part of the reasons we are ready to sign the peace accord. This election is not a do or die affair, as we are not desperate.

“We are campaigning on our records, and we do not care to lose the elections so long as it is not stolen against the will of the electorate.”

The state governor noted that the UN and other stakeholders came to Kaduna because there is a reasonable belief that there would be electoral violence in the state.

He said the biggest threat before the elections is the conduct and utterances of desperate political actors and their supporters.

El-rufai lamented that there are lot of fake speeches, adding that the state government has taken vigorous steps to prosecute those involved in hate speech.

Speaking earlier, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for West Africa and the Sahel, Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas, noted that Nigeria occupies a strategic position in West Africa, the African continent and indeed the world.

“It is therefore, crucial that Nigeria delivers credible, peaceful and fair elections in 2019 in a manner that improves upon the performance of the 2015 elections and strengthens as well as consolidates the democratic dividends this country has accrued over the years,” he said.

Chambas said election in Nigeria is not about Nigeria alone, stressing that “what affects Nigeria, affects all of us especially West Africa and Africa, as we are all stakeholders in Nigeria.”

He said the UN would continue to amplify calls by the National Peace Committee and other voices for all stakeholders to double their efforts in ensuring an issues-based election campaign, conducted within an environment respectful of fundamental human rights and the rule of law.

“I urge you, in accordance with your pledges under the peace accord, to avoid hate messages and the politics of bitterness and rancour that undermines peaceful conduct of elections.

“I also hope that all of us will work together to ensure that the inter-communal conflicts that have raged for long will soon become history so that peace and harmony shall be sustained in Kaduna State and Nigeria as a whole,” he said.