President Muhammadu Buhari has vowed to abide by the country’s Constitution and avoid any form of tenure extension beyond May 29, 2023.
The President, in a statement released by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, gave the warning yesterday, during a meeting with a group of Nigerians resident in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
According to the statement, the president swore to Nigerians by the Holy Quran and the Constitution and has no plan whatsoever to renege on the oath, warning that nobody should start campaigning for an unconstitutional extension of his tenure in office beyond May 29, 2023.
Buhari was quoted as saying: “I swore by the Holy Qur’an that I will serve in accordance with the constitution and leave when my time is up. No “Tazarce” (tenure extension).
President Buhari also tacitly expressed support to efforts to increase the role of technology in the nation’s elections.
He maintained that the introduction of the card reader and electronic register was God’s answer to his prayers, having been cheated of his victory in three previous elections.
President Buhari, who ended his visit to the Kingdom with the Friday prayers at the Grand Mosque in Makkah, said he would continue to abide by the constitution in all its ramifications. According to him, he will at all times supervise and deal with his ministers on the same basis.
He gave assurances at the meeting that in the balance of “18 months or so of my time left, whatever I can do to improve the life of Nigerians, I will do it for the country.”
The president commended diaspora Nigerians in the Kingdom for representing the country well and projecting its image positively.
He also used the opportunity to urge citizens at home to be fair to his administration at all times, asking the critics to compare the security situations in the North-East and South-South in 2015 and how things had improved since then.
President Buhari urged Nigerians living in the country to respect the laws, remain law-abiding and do nothing to derogate from the many years of friendly and mutually beneficial relationships between the two countries.
