The Director, Media and Publicity,
All Progressives Congress
Presidential Campaign Council, Mr.
Garba Shehu, tells LEKE BAIYEWU in
this interview why General
Muhammadu Buhari would have
won the presidential election with
more votes
What is your general
assessment of the presidential
election, apart from the fact that
General Muhammadu Buhari
won the race?
We are satisfied with the process
because we have won. The overall
goal is to win and we have won
with a clear margin. If we have to
pick holes in this election,
obviously there are two things;
one, the card reader technology
has been sabotaged in the South-
East and the South-South. We do
not know how they did this but we
have strong suspicion that they
sabotaged the technology.
Therefore, the technology did not
work and they blackmailed the
Independent National Electoral
Commission into adopting manual
(voter) accreditation. They are very
comfortable with it because that
was what they wanted.
In one of the (presidential
campaign) rallies, Governor Rotimi
Amaechi (of Rivers State) said in the
South-South and the South-East,
they (the electorate) do not vote;
what they were after is the result
sheet. When some people are
queuing to cast their votes, it will
be an exercise in futility and a
fruitless exercise because the
result sheets have been taken
somewhere and are being filled.
You remember what Governor
Amaechi did on the day of election
in Port Harcourt. He said ‘I will not
vote until I see the result sheet.’ He
was not shown any result sheet and
he did not vote.
The election was rigged in Delta,
Imo and in Rivers in particular. This
explained the large numbers that
came out of those places. While
people were on the streets of Akwa
Ibom, protesting that they were
not allowed to vote, these large
numbers were coming out. In
Rivers, people were at the INEC
office, including the (APC)
governorship candidate, chanting
‘we want to vote, we want to vote.’
They were not given the
opportunity to vote. Our people did
not make noise over it. We allowed
it to pass because we believed that
we had a wide margin to
competently absorb all these
nonsense. And that was what
happened. That election would
have been decided by between 65
per cent and 70 per cent win by the
APC; that was our expectation. But
we allowed it to pass.
If truly the APC supporters were
disenfranchised in the election,
why then do you think the PDP is
also contesting the result of the
exercise?
Our belief is that wherever the card
readers were used, rigging was
forestalled there. I can assure you
that in the North and the South-
West, the card readers worked and
they worked to our satisfaction. If
they (PDP) have any evidence, let
them go to court.
But is it ideal for the APC to
overlook the alleged
disenfranchisement of its
members?
Do you think that all the National
Assembly seats that were carted
away in Rivers will be allowed to
go? I am sure that with all of those
seats that were stolen in Akwa
Ibom, Rivers and some other places
in the South-East, fresh elections
will be ordered. They will not be
allowed to go like that.
Do you think there is anything
spectacular about the APC that
made it win the presidential
election?
There are two things: first, the
country generally was ready to
accept change. We have to give it
to Nigerians. The political
environment was ripe for change.
The country has been mismanaged
for so many years by the PDP. They
have taken Nigerians for granted.
Second, you must also consider
Buhari and his integrity status —
the personal integrity of the leader
of the campaign. It was important
because Nigerians needed
somebody they could trust. Third,
we ran an issue-based campaign.
We isolated the key issues of
concern to Nigerians; the issue of
insecurity, corruption, economic
downturn and unemployment.
In spite of all efforts to distract us
from these elements, we stayed on.
While the PDP was busy jumping
from one personal issue to the
other, forgetting the main issues in
their campaign, we addressed the
issues concerning the people.
Next are the governorship and
state Houses of Assembly
membership elections. What is
your expectation?
We will do better than we did at
the presidential poll. Any police
commissioner who allowed rigging
in favour of Jonathan and any army
commander who collaborated in
rigging in the last election will now
see Buhari as the next Commander-
in-Chief. I don’t think any of them
will allow the PDP to mess them up
with the next elections.
There will also be the bandwagon
effect. The bandwagon factor is
moving at a fast speed and
whoever is not on it is a loser.
Nigerians know how the game is
played; they will come on board.
But the PDP has dismissed any
bandwagon effect on the
forthcoming governorship poll.
Let them go and tell the people
from the moon. Nigerians know
themselves; we know ourselves,
and we know the way it works.
How much hope do you have in
breaking the PDP strongholds in
the governorship poll?
The security services that played
game, thinking that Jonathan
would win have now seen that they
were wrong. If I am the police
commissioner of Rivers State, and
my hope is to become the
Inspector-General of Police one
day, I will not follow Jonathan to
the grave – a political grave. Igbo
people have a parable that says it is
the greedy fly that gets buried
along with the corpse.
Considering your comments, is
there any possibility that Buhari
may come after some people
when he gets into office?
No. Give him the benefit of the
doubt. He had said repeatedly that
there is no time for witch-hunting.
Otherwise, the job won’t get done.
Does that include those believed
to have been used against him
or his party?
Why would he go after them? Are
they not citizens? He had said he
would be a president for all. You
heard his (acceptance) speech on
Wednesday. They should not
entertain any fear. But he will take
responsibility for whatever is done
under him. If you’ve not committed
any crime under him, there is no
reason to be afraid of him.
However, if the EFCC (Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission) has
been investigating someone; it is
not for Buhari to stop it. That is like
interfering with its work. So,
ongoing cases will continue.
by ROTMANLUV 2023-07-08, 17:34
