Nigeria’s former Minister of Information, Professor Sam Oyovbaire has expressed his thoughts over the just concluded general elections, insisting that Atiku would not have proceeded to the tribunal without adequate evidence to back his claims.
While being questioned by reporters from Vanguard, the professor who used to be a PDP party member, equally shared his opinion on INEC’s conduct, killings in Kaduna, among other controversial issues in the country.
On Atiku’s petition, Oyovbaire stated, “Though legal matters are not clear court matters until you begin to examine them, but a good number of knowledgeable minds have been assembled and they will comb every area where the elections took place.
“Atiku President Muhammadu Buhari and Atiku Abubakar There are a lot of infringements in the electoral process. I know the thoroughness in which Alhaji Atiku Abubakar works. He is a very thorough man, and the little I know is that he has in his possession very strong evidence.
“ At a general level, he should be allowed to test the process and I am glad that he has beaten the deadline in approaching the tribunal and a lot will be revealed in the process. So, Abubakar has done well by going to the tribunal.”
The former minister equally commended Delta electorates who voted massively for their incumbent governor in the last election.
He said, “I want to first congratulate His Excellency, the governor of Delta State, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa on his re-election during the March 9 governorship election. Personally, I was convinced that Okowa will be there for a second tenure.
“If you were to know the origin of what turned out to be his manifesto and working document which we call the SMART agenda, you will know that the document and its contents therein are not meant for four years, but eight years.
“While congratulating him on his re-election, I also want to appreciate the role of the Delta electorates. For once, we have a young man whose performance is so outstanding in one, the depth from where he took off.
“Because the state was in complete red and he got over that red and gradually he took it to green in terms of revenue availability and management. Adding that to what he subsequently did, you will then appreciate that the young man has done very well and as a person, he has also made some of us who stood by him proud because he has governed with the guide of equity, justice and fairness.
“So, based on this, I thank the people of Delta State who reciprocated by voting for him massively. The other thing I want to say is that the amount of investment into the peace building process in the state and with what is on the ground, I am sure he is going to deepen the peace building process because if you do not have peace, you cannot talk about roads, schools and hospitals.”
The professor further commended the manner in which INEC handled the election exercise, stating that the initial lapses were covered effectively.
“In Delta State, in fairness, INEC has done well. The governor at the last meeting of the State Advisory Council appreciated INEC. We were worried at a point when we took stock of the INEC men and women from Edo State, but it turned out that they did very well other than the usual spot of Ethiope East and Ughelli North, we are happy.
“So, INEC did fairly well, that notwithstanding prejudice to my party men like our lady, Hon Evelyn Oboro who is also going to court because we have very strong suspicion of a relationship between elements of the APC in control of at least two or three local governments and INEC, and all that needs to be proven, but generally speaking, INEC hasn’t done badly at all,” he said.
However, Oyovbaire condemned the consistent riots in Kaduna, adding that he had once lived there and enjoyed every bit of his time. He said, “Look at what is happening in Kaduna state, if I want to extend the discussion, I spent 14 years in Zaria and I used to love a particular place in Kaduna because of its beautiful landscape and I used to say if I had my choice to choose where I would like to stay, I would move to that area.”
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