Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari, has said that the President’s role in the recently concluded presidential primary of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) has showed that Buhari is not an “elected autocrat.”
According to Shehu, contrary to speculations in the media, Buhari had no intention of imposing a particular candidate.
Shehu said; “The President always said he had a favoured candidate. He said that candidate was whoever was chosen by the APC in a democratic primary to lead the party at the election.”
He added that; “People make assumptions that if you are a leader, you dominate everything, and even determine electoral outcomes,” Shehu said.
“Luckily for Nigeria, President Buhari does not suffer from such constraints. He refuses to act as the elected autocrat.
“The President had a clear purpose leading up to the primary: to ensure a transparent, free and fair process that will bring back people’s faith in democracy by taking good governance up to the grassroots level.
“By this alone, people’s faith and that of the international community in our democracy has received a major boost since the completion of the APC nomination.
“The flagbearer has been chosen. He has the President’s unwavering support. The journey to victory continues.”