2023 polls among my proudest achievements, says Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari says the conduct of the 2023 general election is a proud achievement of his administration.

The president, in his Sallah message to the Muslim faithful, said he created “a level playing field for all contestants regardless of party affiliations”.

Buhari’s Sallah message was signed by Garba Shehu, presidential spokesperson, on Thursday.

The president said the elections were “transparent” and that even members of his political party — the All Progressives Congress (APC) — were “routed and unseated”.

He said the 2023 elections “will go down on record as one of the proudest achievements of my administration in addition to our neutrality in the conduct of the elections”.

Buhari said the outcome of the elections was “in line with my pledge to leave a legacy of free and fair elections”.

“I’m proud that I have created a level playing field for all contestants regardless of party affiliation in order to produce a fair outcome for all,” he said.

“Free and fair elections are the only principles that give credibility to our democracy, because the subversion of the will of the people undermines democracy itself.”

The president noted that “free and fair elections are the only principles that give credibility to our democracy because the subversion of the will of the people undermines democracy itself”.

“At no point did I interfere with the process in order to give unfair advantage to anyone,” he added.

The presidential and national assembly elections took place on February 25 while the governorship and state assembly polls were held on March 18.

Bola Tinubu, candidate of the APC, was declared the winner of the presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Opposition political parties — Labour Party (LP) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) — have contested the result at the election petition tribunal.