The Presidency on Friday said that President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) would not short-change any part of the country on account of the voting pattern in the March 28 presidential election.
This was the position of the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, when he spoke to Saturday PUNCH in Abuja.
According to the presidential spokesman, contrary to the news making the rounds on a statement made by Mr. Buhari during his recent four day visit to the United States, no part of the country would be denied the dividends of democracy on account of how they voted in the last presidential election.
Buhari, had during a question and answer session with journalists in the US on July 22, said, “(Going by election results), constituencies that gave me 95 per cent cannot in all honesty be treated, on some issues, with constituencies that gave me five per cent. I think these are political realities. While, certainly there will be justice for everybody but the people who voted, and made their votes count, they must feel the government has appreciated the effort they put in putting the government in place”.
But the Presidency said those who have been making issues out of the comment had deliberately refused to include President Buhari’s concluding statement on the issue.
Adesina pointed out that the balanced perspective of what the President said was that it is natural politically to give more to those who supported him but then those who did not support him would not get anything less, because the constitution already protected them.
He said, “People should just have been patient to listen to the entire trend.
“The President said it truly that people who gave him 95 per cent may get more attention in terms of reward and all that.
“But he also said that fortunately, the constitution has guaranteed the rights of every part of the country.
“What that means then is that even those who voted five per cent will get their dues and will not get things commensurate with five per cent votes.
“Some people deliberately decided to take part of what he said and refused to balance it.
“The balanced perspective of what the President said is that it is natural politically to give more to those who supported him but then those who did not support him will not be given the shorter end of the stick because the constitution already protected them”.
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