The Presidency says President Muhammadu Buhari is looking forward to handing over to an elected successor.
This is a reaction to speculations that an Interim National Government is being mooted for the country ahead of the May 29, 2023, handover date, saying there was no iota of truth in the speculation.
Rather, the Presidency stated that the elections scheduled for February 25 and March 11 would go on and winners declared in line with stipulated guidelines. The presidency’s response comes hours after Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State said the cash scarcity following the Naira redesign policy, as well as the current petrol scarcity, were part of a plot to ensure that the 2023 elections do not hold at all, “leading to an interim national government to be led by a retired army general”.
The Presidency, in a statement titled, “Stop the Joke About Interim Government, Election Will Hold’, issued yesterday by presidential spokesperson, Mallam Garba Shehu, emphasised that President Muhammadu Buhari was at no time working towards having any interim government and never made any move to truncate the nation’s democratic process.
It stated that the rumour was being peddled by politicians afraid of losing during the forthcoming general elections.The Presidency noted that the recent currency swap has put a lot of pressure on the system including the election process leading to President Buhari consulting widely on how to solve the problem associated with the currency policy and move forward.It added that hands are on deck to ensure that the elections go on as scheduled and winners declared in line with provisions of the Constitution and the Electoral Act.