Ahead of the forthcoming general elections, President Muhammadu Buhari, reiterated his call to foreign diplomats in the country not to interfere in the country’s politics.
President Buhari cautioned on foreign interference while receiving Letters of Credence from Ambassadors of Switzerland, Sweden, Republic of Ireland, the Kingdom of Thailand, the Republic of Senegal and the Republic of South Sudan, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Nations of the West are concerned about their interest. They are particularly interested in who becomes the president of our country. They are interested in the progress of our country because of their key Investments in Nigeria.
These were the submissions of Babajide Kolade-Otitoju, a renowned journalist on IssueswithJide.
He said when President John Kelly came to Nigeria in 2015, he warned that the elections must not be rigged.
At that time, the American government led by Barack Obama had made up their minds that they were going to support president Muhammadu Buhari. They did not say it openly but everything pointed to their believe that Buhari will win the election and they began to gravitate towards him.
Mr Kolade-Otitoju noted that the west always have preferences in an election year as they always have a particular regime or a particular candidate that they will want to see win the election.
“We are not like Francophone countries where they will make it very clear.
“In the case of Nigeria, that is not the case but they still have all their interest, they still show interest in particular candidates and the president knew, that was why he said ‘don’t interfere in Nigerian matters, limit yourself to operate within your official limits. You are diplomats, do not get involved in politics.’
BKO recalled that there were some security reports that Nigerian security agencies believed were not properly verified, that some of these Western countries issued, particularly about Abuja, this deeply troubled government, and they will not want this sort of thing to happen during this electioneering season.
Buhari will not want them overtly supporting a candidate; instead, he will want them to wait on the sidelines and watch us conduct our elections and choose our leaders without foreign intervention.
BKO went on to remark that if other countries continued to dictate to us, Nigeria’s independence would be meaningless.
He went on to say that the idea of dictating to us as a nation will continue until we stop going cap in hand to these other Nations for loans.
Taking out loans from foreign countries on a regular basis reduces your country’s independence because you are then subject to a variety of constraints.
He went on to say that as a country, we must work hard to ensure that we are very careful in the use of our resources, that we stop taking loans, and that we do not become overly reliant on these countries to the point where our independence is called into question.
“Mr President would like these ambassadors from friendly nations to assist us in combating insecurity in our country and in diversifying the Nigerian economy, but he will not want them to interfere in an electoral process,” BKO stated.
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