Why Former US President Bill Clinton Is Visiting Buhari, Atiku

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A former President of the United States of America, Bill Clinton, has been scheduled to meet with major contenders in Nigeria’s presidential candidates to negotiate a peace deal amidst political mudslinging and tension.

Clinton will meet President Muhammadu Buhari, the
candidate of the All Progressives Congress, and his main rival, Atiku
Abubakar, of the People’s Democratic Party.

Facilitated by Kofi Annan Foundation, the meeting would come a day before the presidential election slated for February 16.

“As
Nigeria heads towards presidential elections, every effort must be made
to ensure that they take place in a peaceful atmosphere” Alan Doss,
President of the Kofi Annan Foundation, said in a press statement on
Friday.

“President Bill Clinton is well-known and respected in
Nigeria and we are pleased that he agreed to make the trip in order to
personally urge all the candidates and their parties to re-commit to the
peace pledge they adopted last December,” Doss added.

Doss
opined that Clinton’s presence will demonstrate “the importance of these
elections not only for Nigeria but Africa as a whole”.

The campaigns have been characterised by intense mudslinging, threats of violence and outright lies.

Kaduna
State governor Nasir El-Rufai, a key ally of President Buhari, during
the week, threatened that any external actors who try to intervene in
the elections and in the internal affairs of the country would return
home in a body bags.

“We are waiting for the person who will come
and intervene. They will go back in body bags because nobody will come
to Nigeria and tell us how to run our country,” said El-Rufai.

“We have got that independence and we are trying to run our country as decently as possible,” he said.

Last year Buhari and Atiku both signed an agreement stating a commitment to hold a peaceful election.

Following
El-Rufai’s comments, the main opposition PDP said it would be “left
with no option than to consider a review of its signatory in the
national peace accord” if the ruling party did not stop “comments,
threats and incendiary actions”.

El-Rufai’s comment came after
the US, the UK and EU expressed their concerns to the Nigerian
authorities over the suspension of the chief justice Walter Onnoghen.

Buhari said Onnoghen was suspended for not declaring his assets when he was made the country’s top judge.

Buhari
also said “the security agencies have since then traced other
suspicious transactions running into millions of dollars to the CJN’s
personal accounts, all undeclared or improperly declared as required by
law.”

But his critics said the suspension was a pre-emptive move
by the government with the hope of having a friendly judge at the helms
of affairs should the presidential elections result is disputed.

Nigeria’s
judiciary has helped resolve electoral disputes in past votes, some of
which have been marred by violence and vote-rigging.

Source:- Guardianng

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