“So I will urge people to vote for people they trust that can protect their lives and properties, people that will bring about prosperity to them. The President has shown that he is a great democrat and we have seen what he did in Ogun State. We have seen what he did in Imo State and so on and so forth. This is to tell you that the president is ushering a new brand of democracy without bitterness. People should be allowed to choose.”
In replying to allegations by Peoples Democratic Party and its presidential candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of irregularities in the Saturday 23 February 2019 presidential and national assembly elections in the country, Senator Kabiru Marafa, representing Zamfara Central in the 8th National Assembly, says what the votes the North gave to the President Muhammadu Buhari was below expectation.
He said, against the complaints that the votes were overblown, that President Buhari should have received more votes from that part of Nigeria during the polls but for insurgency and insecurity in the region.
Senator Marafa also welcomed the decision of presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar to go to court to challenge the result if he wished to.
He spoke with State House correspondents after meeting with President Buhari in State House Abuja, on Friday.
On criticisms that have trailed votes from the north, Senator Marafa said: “If you ask me I will tell you that I am not even pleased with the votes that came from my state because I believe we could have done much more.
“We have 1.4 million registered voters and we recorded only about 650,000 votes, so what is the big deal about it?
“If you look at all the states, I think the overall performance is below 60 percent. African leaders congratulate Buhari on his re-election in most of the states.
“We have more than 80 million registered voters and out of that figures how many voted?
“In fact we are supposed to lament because the situation was supposed to be much more than that.
“Nigerians are supposed to be more politically aware and they are supposed to turnout in their numbers to vote much more than we have seen. So I don’t see anything unusual about that.”
On the March 9 governorship election, he said: “Well, the most important thing now is that we have finished the presidential election which a lot of people are united on the candidacy of president Muhammadu Buhari but when it comes to the governorship election, there are a lot of disparities across the states which the President himself has reckoned by actions.
“So I will urge people to vote for people they trust that can protect their lives and properties, people that will bring about prosperity to them.
“The President has shown that he is a great democrat and we have seen what he did in Ogun State. We have seen what he did in Imo State and so on and so forth.
“This is to tell you that the president is ushering a new brand of democracy without bitterness. People should be allowed to choose.”
