President Muhammadu Buhari has addressed Nigerians on Nigeria’s Diamond Jubilee Anniversary.
In his call for the enthronement of the rule of law, Buhari made out a list of critical challenges which currently underlie Nigeria and how he plans to resolve them. His plans include;
“a. Evolving and sustaining a democratic culture that leaves power in the hands of the people;
b. Supporting the enthronement of the rule of law, demanding accountability of elected representatives and contributing to good governance;
c. Increasing our commitment to peaceful co-existence in a peaceful, secure and united Nigeria;
d. Harnessing and Optimizing our tremendous human and natural resources to attain our goal of being in the top twenty economies of the world and in the process;
e. Lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years;
f. Strengthening institutions to make them stronger in protecting National Interests; and
g. Imbibing tolerance in diversity.”
President Buhari also referred to the recently-concluded Edo elections and mentioned that “the recent build-up and eventual outcome of the Edo State elections should encourage Nigerians that it is my commitment to bequeath to this country processes and procedures that would guarantee that the people’s votes count.”
He also pointed out that “the problems with our electoral process are mainly human induced as desperate desire for power leads to desperate attempts to gain power and office.” He then made a call for a transparent, free, fair and credible election and said that “this call is made more urgent if we realise that even after a transparent, free, fair and credible election, desperation leads to compromising the judiciary to upturn legitimate decisions of the people.” “It is necessary to, therefore support the enthronement of the rule of law by avoiding actions which compromise the judiciary,” he added.