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I
I’ll be declared President,
says Buhari
JOHN SHIKLAM,
Kaduna
ALL Nigeria
Peoples Party (ANPP) presidential candidate Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd)
said weekend that he was optimistic that he would soon be declared the winner of
the April 2003 presidential election.
Gen. Buhari had headed to the election
petition tribunal to challenge the declaration of President Olusegun Obasanjo as
the winner of the election.
His petition against the President’s
re-election is still pending before the tribunal.
Speaking during a wedding reception for
his daughter, Nana Hadiza, who got wedded to Mr. Bello Waziri at the Crystal
Garden Hotel, Kaduna, Gen. Buhari said his counsel, Chief Mike Ahamba (SAN) had
presented a good case at the tribunal and expressed optimism that justice would
be done in his (Buhari’s) favour in the interest of the nation.
According to Gen. Buhari, the ANPP had
concluded its case at the tribunal, adding that President Obasanjo had also
closed his own case.
Gen. Buhari said what is remaining now is
for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to tell the tribunal
how it conducted the election following which judgement would be delivered.
Also speaking during the wedding
reception, Chief Ahamba said Nigerians should not lose hope on the outcome of
the petition because of the time it had taken.
He said his team had presented the case
before the tribunal, stressing that it was left for INEC to explain how the
election was conducted.
According to him, judgement in the matter
will be delivered soon, since all the parties involved in the case had closed
their cases.
Chief Ahamba maintained that Gen. Buhari,
when he becomes president, would not only stop the decay in the policy but
ensure discipline and transparency in the nation’s electoral process.
"All we require is a disciplined
leadership. Nigeria has no problem with the electoral system," he said.
The wedding was attended by Governors
Ahmed Makarfi, Kaduna, Ibrahim Shekarau, Kano, Ahmed Sani, Zamfara, and Saminu
Turaki, Jigawa states.
There were also former Senate President,
Chief Anyim Pius Anyim, former Military Administrator of Lagos State, Brig. Gen.
Buba Marwa (rtd), former governor of Borno State, Alhaji Mala Kachalla, former
Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki, former ANPP Chief Whip in the House of
Representatives, Chief Fidel Ayogu and ex-Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN),
Justice Mohammed Bello.
Several other dignitaries graced the
event.
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