In a recent chat with Punch, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina spoke about what he thought concerning the recently wrapped up presidential election that saw his boss, Muhammadu Buhari emerge as re-elected leader.
He heaped several praises on the President and talked about how he put in the work to ensure the victory.
He also thanked God that Obasanjo and his plan failed in their plans to ensure Buhari lost the crucial election.
On the unease that took over the elections and the power struggle, he said, “Well, there is a saying that the politician thinks of the next elections, while the statesman thinks of how he can make a difference in his own country. So, in 2015 after the President got inaugurated, he put himself to the work and he was trying to bring change to Nigeria as he had promised.
“But because there were politicians out there, it is not disappointing that they started politicking immediately. That is the nature of politics and politicking because, after one election, they are thinking of the next election already. But Mr. President applied himself to the work.
“Until he announced in 2018 that he would be running in 2019, he didn’t have inkling of politics at all. In fact, not many people were quite sure that he was going to run. So, that shows you that Mr. President is always single-minded on anything he does.
“Anything he does at any given time, he focuses on it and he does not allow too many distractions. That is why at the end of the day, he had enough to show that he deserved a second term. You know I had always said that two things would determine who would become President in 2019: One would be the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari to run for second term and other would be the achievements he has to put on the table.
“So he decided to run and he had many things to put on the table and the people voted him again.”
On the desperation that was displayed, his words, “Power struggle shouldn’t have that kind of desperation but here was a lot of desperation in this last election because of those things I mentioned: Struggle between transparency and opacity; struggle between honesty and lack of it; struggle between accountability and lack of it.
So, Nigerians had to choose.
And the outcome of the election has shown that Nigerians will never ever again vote a person they can’t vouch for as President. That is what this last election has shown.
Integrity will always matter in Nigeria going forward.”
On Obasanjo’s plan to ensure PMB did not win, he said, “But we thank God he didn’t succeed.
Victory is enough (laughs).
Victory is enough for us, we don’t need to gloat over anything.”
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