Any governor under the present administration who wins election into office should not expect any congratulatory message from President Muhammadu Buhari, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said.

The decision not to congratulate newly-elected governors by the president will be a radical departure from the past, especially the immediate past administration, where then President Goodluck Jonathan always sent congratulatory messages to winners of elections regardless of party affiliation immediately after announcement of results.

The practice by former President Jonathan was unprecedented and was widely hailed as being responsible for dousing tension that usually arose post-election.

Under Buhari, two governorship elections have held, albeit under controversial circumstances with one winner emerging from the president’s party, All Progressives Congress, APC, in Kogi State and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, emerging victorious in Bayelsa State.

On both elections, there was no statement from the Presidency congratulating the winners, leading the senator representing Bayelsa East, Ben Murray-Bruce, among others, to call out Mr. Buhari for failing to toe the line of his predecessor.

However, responding to the condemnations trailing the president’s refusal to congratulate winners of elections, especially in Bayelsa, where the PDP got a hard-earned victory, Mr. Mohammed said such messages were unnecessary and an interference in elections or their outcomes.

“This President is not in the business of interfering and intervening in elections”, the Minister was quoted as saying at a briefing with media House Bureau Chiefs in Abuja on Monday.

He explained that “What of if he sent a congratulatory message and they go to court and the election is overturned, will he call back the congratulatory message?”

“This President believes that the Presidency should be insulated from the conduct of elections and their outcomes”, Mr. Mohammed added.

He also dismissed rumours making the rounds on the social media that President Buhari will soon embark on 91 days medical leave.

Mr. Mohammed insisted that if President Buhari is going on any leave, he is not going to hide it, describing the rumour as part of campaign of calumny against the president.

http://www.informationng.com/?p=345424

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Buhari sef

Buhari is a sore loser