Former governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff, has said that the 830000 votes scored by President Muhammadu Buhari in last Saturday’s presidential election in the state, fell short of his expectation.
He spoke to State House correspondents after the Juma’at prayer at Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja.
According to him, Buhari deserved not less than 2million votes from the state under normal circumstances.
Sheriff premised his position on what he described as the tremendous achievements of the Buhari administration, especially in the area of security.
Narrating his personal experience on the precarious security situation in the Northeast of Nigeria before the advent of the current administration, Sheriff said he was unable to visit his hometown for four years owing to the nefarious activities of Boko Haram insurgents.
Accordingly, he dismissed the complaints by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) claiming that the votes recorded by the APC candidate in most northern states, especially Borno and Yobe, were suspect.
He said: President Muhamamdu Buhari, within the last four years, has done more than what any other president has done in this country.
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“He came into power when the oil price was less than $30. I am not surprised about the victory because Nigerians are very smart people, we know what is good for our country, we know the right thing to do at any given point in term.
“If you look at the antecedents of all the people that contested elections with President Buhari, none has 10 per cent of his credibility. This is a man that is not interested in what every Nigerian is interested in: to grab wealth and enrich themselves. He is there for the Nigerian people; he believes Nigeria should be better than where we are.
So, whatever the people of Borno did for Mr President last Saturday, we are only saying thank you for what he has done. If the atmosphere were clearer, Borno would have produced two million votes.
“So, I don’t know why the PDP is grumbling where the registered voters are more than two million and we only gave the president 830,000.
“As a governor, the president got over a million votes in Borno, why didn’t they complain then? They are just crying foul for nothing. This election was the most transparent election that ever took place in the history of Nigeria and I stand to be corrected. They should just embrace peace. They should accept their defeat and replan for 2023 if we are all alive. But this election has been won and won transparently.”
