Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa'ad Abubakar, has called
on Nigerians to go out next Saturday, vote the presidential candidate of their
choice and ensure they protect their votes.
On his part, the Sultan made the call on Thursday in
Abuja during the 2019 Murtala Muhammed Memorial Lecture, organised by Murtala
Muhammed Foundation with the theme: ‘Towards Credible, Peaceful and
Participatory Election-Moving Nigeria’s Democracy Forward'.
He stated: “Why so much concern about the
presidential election in Nigeria especially by foreign partners? We need to ask
ourselves. But the simple issue is that Nigeria's 200 million population is
such a big concern to everybody.
“The reason is that the survivability of Nigeria is
so important to the world that everybody must come together to see credible and
peaceful elections in Nigeria where whoever emerges the winner will be accepted
by all.”
The Sultan noted that those at the top feel they
are at the top and they control everything, stressing that it is the people who
control everything.
He said: “That is why I want to call on Nigerians
to go out and exercise their rights; vote for the candidate you feel
is best for you and ensure you protect your vote.”
Also, the Emir of Kano, Muhammed Sanusi (II), said
there was need for the political parties and the system to begin to put trust
in young people, not just because they are in majority, but because the country
history has shown that Nigeria achieved more with young people in charge.
According to him, “Check out when Tafawa Balewa, Ahamadu
Bello, Yakubu Gowon, Murtala Muhammed, Olusegun Obasanjo in his first term as
military Heads of State.
“I certainly think Obasanjo in his first term when
he was in his 30s was a better head of state
than his second term when he was in his 70s.
“So, it is important that giving the history of our
country, young people have shown that they are capable, that they have vision,
that they have the energy, that they have the belief in the country and we need
to consciously promote them and hopefully, next elections 2023, we will begin
to see much more younger people.
“I hope those who are older will be there to guide
them, counsel them like the way Maitama Sule was counselling late Gen. Murtala
Muhammed.
“But it is extremely important that older
generation, while they are alive to hand over this country to the next
generation, they should watch them so that when they are gone, they would be
happy.”
Earlier, the Chief Executive Officer of the
foundation, Aisha Muhammed-Oyebode, had said this year’s edition was rather
auspicious coming just few days to the elections.
She stressed that while some progresses have been
made in the country’s electoral process, a lot still need to be done to improve
democratic process and entrench good governance.
On his part, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, while delivering
his keynote address titled: ‘Towards Credible Elections', said the country
appears to have made some progress in its electoral process.
He added that in the estimation of most people, the
2011 elections were better than that of 2007 and the 2015 elections were better
than that 2011. There are metrics to prove this trend.
Odinkalu said: “In 2007, 1,299 offices out of a
total of 1,496 elective offices contested ended up in election petition
tribunals, yielding an astounding 86.5 percent. In 2011, 769 petitions were
filed, totaling 51.4 percent of all contested positions or a net dis-satisfaction
rate (from the election petition output) of 35.1 percent. 2015 was the first
time that Nigeria’s presidential elections did not end up in court.
“It was also the first time that the proportion of
elections ending up in courts was less than 50 percent (it was about 46.1
percent). In 2019, Nigeria has the unique opportunity to either sustain this
trend of incremental progress or to reverse it.”
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