The Presidency has thanked Nigerians and media for sustaining democracy, after the ruling party of All Progressives Congress (APC) won all the by-elections conducted last weekend.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity Mr. Garba Shehu while briefing the media on the outcome of the by-elections, said the results of the by-elections conducted in Bauchi, Katsina and Kogi is a clear indication that President Muhammadu Buhari would win the 2019 Presidential election. He said:
“About the fabulous shows of the APC in Katsina, Bauchi and Kogi, and even to some extent in Cross River States, all of these are coming against the background of Ekiti State. It is clear that elections after election, Nigerians are reposing confidence in the Buhari/Osinbajo Presidency. Each of these election victories is considered to be epic in nature because none of these elections was an ordinary election.
We are happy that we have won and on behalf of the President and the Acting President, we like to say thank you to Nigerians who continue to repose their confidence in the leadership of the APC administration.”
We also want to thank the leadership of the party at the national level, but equally important, to thank all the party’s apparatus deployed to all the campaigns and ensured that all the elections were won handsomely by APC. So, we are expressing our gratitude to everyone for these that had happened and to say that with this increasing confidence reposed in the President and the Acting President, who are determined more than ever before to leave no stone unturned in order to bring the promised change to Nigerians.”
On his assessment of the by-elections, he shared some of his lessons with the media, saying Nigerians have spoken and it is no longer a politics of ‘Mokey dey work baboon dey chop’. He said:
“For a quick review, maybe one, two, three or four lessons can be taken from the victories that the party has been recording.
First of all is to say that these decisive victories are indications that clearly, Nigerians have spoken that President Buhari maintains his momentum; that these victories the place Buhari/Osinbajo Presidency in very good stead for next year’s election; it is a statement of the fact that the APC will go into election next year with every confidence that the elections will be won and that Nigerians by this statement, will also say that they no longer have time for politics of insult and diversion, mudslinging and ‘monkey dey work, baboon dey chop’ politics of the PDP, and equally important is that these election victories are a clear message to the National Assembly that all that Nigerians are interested in is that the business of government should go on.
“That Nigerians are saying that they are not interested in the drama; they are not interested in the grammar, the subterfuge and all of the games that are being played in the National Assembly,”
Mr. Garba Shehu also appealed to the National Assembly members to reconvene and pass the 2018 supplementary budget, so that the President can deliver on all his promise to Nigerians, saying:
“I think it is appropriate this time to appeal to the National Assembly to be on the same page with the President Muhammadu Buhari administration so that we can deliver on all of these things. They are urgent matters that need to be attended to including matters of shortfall in money supply for the execution of the budget.”