President Muhammadu Buhari has slammed the “unconstitutional tenure extension,” telling those seeking to keep him in office until 2023 to back aside.
When Buhari visited with several Nigerians living in Saudi Arabia in Makkah, he issued the warning.
He gave assurances at the meeting that in the balance of “eighteen months or so of my time left, whatever I can do to improve the life of Nigerians, I will do it for the country.”
“I swore by the Holy Qur’an that I will serve in accordance with the constitution and leave when my time is up. No “Tazarce’’ (tenure extension). I don’t want anybody to start talking about and campaigning for an unconstitutional extension. I will not accept that.”
Buhari also indicated support for initiatives to increase the use of technology in elections, claiming that the introduction of the card reader and electronic register was God’s answer to his prayers after he was denied victory in three prior elections.
“After the third so-called defeat, I said, ‘God Dey’. My opponents laughed at me but God answered my prayers by bringing in technology. At that point, nobody can steal their votes or buy them,” the president added.
Buhari said he will continue to abide by the constitution in all of its dimensions and will supervise and deal with his ministers on the same basis as he did during his visit to the Kingdom, which ended with Friday prayers at the Grand Mosque in Makkah.
The president praised Nigerians in the diaspora in the Kingdom for effectively promoting the country and creating a positive image.
He also took use of the opportunity to call on citizens at home to be fair to his administration at all times, asking detractors to compare the security circumstances in the North East and South-South in 2015 and how things have improved since then.
“My problem is the North West where people are killing and stealing from one another. I had to be very hard on them and I will continue to be very hard until we put them in line and bring back order,” he said.
Buhari asked Nigerians living in the country to uphold the law, be law-abiding, and do nothing to jeopardize the two countries’ long-standing friendly and mutually beneficial relationship.
Dr Abdulkadir Maikudi, a community leader who spoke on the group’s behalf, asked the president to help the privately-run Nigerian International School in the Kingdom by equipping it to give science and technical education.
Yahaya Lawal, the Nigerian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, and Ambassador Abdulkarim Mansur, the Consul-General in Jeddah, attested to the exemplary behavior of the roughly 1.5 million Nigerians in the country.
According to them, “Nigerian professionals are doing well and projecting a good image of our country.”
