PRESIDENTIAL Candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), in the April 16 general elections, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday said he would not honour the official swearing-in ceremony of President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja today.
Buhari's absence, according to him, would register his dissatisfaction with the conduct of the elections in the South East and South-South zones of the country.
He faulted the stamp of approval given to the poll by both local and international observers, challenging them to come out and state clearly their findings in the Southern part of the country. He also wondered why observers would declare the elections as the most transparent in the history of the Nation, despite what he considered as "electoral irregularities."
According to him, "people who said that the 2011 election was an improvement over the 2007 election can voice their opinions as they are entitled to theirviews, but it is on record that I challenged them to state what they found out in the southern part of the country and up till now, they could not provide a detail reports on how the election was conducted in the South-South, South-East and South-West, where he alleged that high irregularities and fraud were recorded during the poll."
The former Head of State is already challenging the outcome of the elections at the Presidential Election Tribunal. Speaking in a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Hausa Service interview, monitored in Jos, Buhari said that although a formal invitation letter was sent
to him through the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) last week, he replied to indicate his unwillingness to attend the event.
"They sent me an invitation letter and card from the offices of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and the agency of government responsible for the welfare of past leaders of the country, whether military or civilian, to attend activities marking the inauguration of the president in Abuja and I asked them to reply that I will not be able to attend the occasion," he said.
Conceding, however, that the CPC was not well rooted in the southern part of the country, Buhari said the party had larger following in the northern part of the country. He said "It is true that we have more supporters in the north more than we have in the south, but we still have our supporters in the south. Again it is also factual that our supporters in the south were either driven away from the elections or some even killed, which we have documentary evidences, which will make available at the appropriate time. But since the matter is before the Tribunal, I would rather not make detailed comments on it."
According to him, the CPC would continue to contest the result of the election at the Tribunal hoping for what he called "justice."
Source: Why I Won't Attend Jonathan's Inauguration, By Buhari (http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=49562:why-i-wont-attend-jonathans-inauguration-by-buhari&catid=1:national&Itemid=559)