Former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon
Ahead of the presidential elections slated for next weekend, former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon has urged incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari to accept the final verdict of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
General Gowon said this yesterday when the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) management led by the Director-General, Brig-General Johnson Olawuni, visited him in Abuja. He expressed fear over recent comments from political leaders and party supporters ahead of this month’s general elections, adding that the trend and dimension of political campaigns in the country are uncalled for.
In his words, “Yes, there are anxieties in the country but we pray that God will touch the heart and minds of those with negative intent so that nothing untoward happens. What we want in Nigeria is to have a peaceful, free and fair election and I appeal to all Nigerians especially the political parties and the leadership of those parties to ensure that all their supporters vote peacefully.”
“I appeal to the political leaders to prevail on some of their extreme supporters and members making extreme statements that can enrage or trigger trouble. They must ensure a peaceful election and essentially accept the final result from INEC who has the only authority to announce the final election result.”
“Let me say that since this election is going to be a secret voting, every individual has the right to vote who he wants and I want to urge every Nigerian to vote according to their conscience and not be intimidated into voting for somebody you doesn’t want to vote for.”
While commenting on the deployment of the corps members for electoral duties, Gowon said, “I have gone round and seen some corps members on electoral duties and I was impressed that they were doing it very well. I have always congratulated them and I am also impressed that the scheme is deploying them for the forthcoming general elections.”
Meanwhile, Brig. Olawunmi, while speaking at the occasion, explained that the purpose of their visit to Gowon was to appeal for his intervention to Nigerians and political leaders to ensure the security of the corps members before, during and after the elections.
“The purpose of this visit is about the corps members that would soon be on electoral duty. NYSC has been part of the electoral process but precisely in 2011, we were unlucky to lose some corps members as a result of post-election violence. Since then, we have gone the extra mile to take precautionary measures to ensure that such did not repeat in this country,” he said.
General Gowon said this yesterday when the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) management led by the Director-General, Brig-General Johnson Olawuni, visited him in Abuja. He expressed fear over recent comments from political leaders and party supporters ahead of this month’s general elections, adding that the trend and dimension of political campaigns in the country are uncalled for.
In his words, “Yes, there are anxieties in the country but we pray that God will touch the heart and minds of those with negative intent so that nothing untoward happens. What we want in Nigeria is to have a peaceful, free and fair election and I appeal to all Nigerians especially the political parties and the leadership of those parties to ensure that all their supporters vote peacefully.”
“I appeal to the political leaders to prevail on some of their extreme supporters and members making extreme statements that can enrage or trigger trouble. They must ensure a peaceful election and essentially accept the final result from INEC who has the only authority to announce the final election result.”
“Let me say that since this election is going to be a secret voting, every individual has the right to vote who he wants and I want to urge every Nigerian to vote according to their conscience and not be intimidated into voting for somebody you doesn’t want to vote for.”
While commenting on the deployment of the corps members for electoral duties, Gowon said, “I have gone round and seen some corps members on electoral duties and I was impressed that they were doing it very well. I have always congratulated them and I am also impressed that the scheme is deploying them for the forthcoming general elections.”
Meanwhile, Brig. Olawunmi, while speaking at the occasion, explained that the purpose of their visit to Gowon was to appeal for his intervention to Nigerians and political leaders to ensure the security of the corps members before, during and after the elections.
“The purpose of this visit is about the corps members that would soon be on electoral duty. NYSC has been part of the electoral process but precisely in 2011, we were unlucky to lose some corps members as a result of post-election violence. Since then, we have gone the extra mile to take precautionary measures to ensure that such did not repeat in this country,” he said.
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