by Panshak Ibrahim

Former Military Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd.), has categorically stated that there will be no interim government.

He spoke to journalists during a press conference on Thursday, after a meeting of the Peace Committee, made up of security Chiefs, party and religious leaders.

Abubakar, who is the chairman of the committee, pointed out that President Goodluck Jonathan had promised that elections will hold on the rescheduled dates and May 29 handover date remains sacrosanct.

Abubakar said: “We have been meeting to review where we stopped at the last meeting. We are aware that the election dates have been shifted. There have been a lot of rumours going around the country, whether there are plans to form an interim government.

“We have heard from the president that election will hold in March. He has also said that there are no plans to have an interim government. We are appealing to Nigerians to focus their minds on exercising their rights on election day.

“During the meeting here we were fortunate to have the chairman of APC and representative of the PDP chairman. We are appealing to our youths to ensure that they are not used as thugs during the elections.

“It is always the children of the poor that are used during the elections. We appeal to party leaders to tell their supporters and candidates to be law-abiding. We must ensure that the peace we have had so far is sustained.”

“We are going to have a meeting with the chairman of INEC to ascertain what has been done regarding their preparedness. We also discussed that during our meeting. We will ask INEC where they are currently.”

“The committee like every Nigerian is not happy with the violence and what happened in Rivers state. We are following the issue. Even if I give you a guarantee that there will be peace, I cannot dictate what you will do when you leave here. Nigerians must ensure we maintain peace,” Abubakar added.

Kolapo Olapoju