SGF: 2023 Would Have Been at Risk Had INEC Failed in Anambra

•Says Buhari’s legacy beginning to manifest

Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, yesterday, said the 2023 general election would have been exposed to grave danger if the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had mismanaged the governorship poll in Anambra State.

Mustapha described the peaceful outcome of the election and the transparency exhibited by INEC as some of the legacies of a credible electoral culture that President Muhammadu Buhari had promised to bequeath to the nation before leaving office.

Speaking on the general conduct of the election, the SGF, in a chat with THISDAY, said, “Our greatest achievement as an administration is that INEC, in spite of all the threats to peace and security, was able to hold the 2021 gubernatorial election in Anambra State. If we did not, 2023 would be at risk.”

Mustapha, who was full of praises for the president, stated that whatever successes recorded in the Anambra election happened because the president provided the atmosphere for them.

The SGF stated regarding the successful governorship poll, “This happened because President Buhari has promised to leave a legacy of credible election before quitting office in 2023 and he has been walking his talk. It will be unfair for anyone to lose sight of this very instructive fact.”

While congratulating Soludo on a good showing during the election, Mustapha also commended him for extending a hand of fellowship to his opponents, saying election should not be a do-or-die affair and everyone must learn to imbibe the sportsmanship spirit.

He told Soludo that although he had been a member of the economic team, working closely with the president from a more vantage position would afford him the opportunity to see more positively.

According Mustapha, “In the statement he just issued, President Buhari has already said he was looking forward to working with him, not just over Anambra but Nigeria, in general. That’s a loaded statement, which means the president’s disposition to Project Nigeria is not defined by ethnic profiling but who can actually get the job done.

“I congratulate Soludo, his co-contestants, INEC and its staff, as well as all the security agencies for a very good job that has done the nation really proud. Nigeria would certainly not go lower from this remarkable progress. Again, I congratulate everyone, who has made the Anambra success feasible.”