The Director of Diaspora Directorate, All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council, Mr Ade Omole, has called on opposition political leaders to embrace Sen. Bola Tinubu as Nigeria’s President-elect.
He made the appeal while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria on Sunday in Abuja.
Omole urged the opposition to emulate World leaders who saw a need, congratulated and recognised Tinubu as Nigeria’s president-elect.
While noting that he thought there were minimal hitches in a few states during the Feb. 25 presidential election, he however said they were not enough to discredit the entire process.
Omole advised that rather than heating up the polity with unsubstantiated claims of electoral fraud during the election, members of the opposition parties should sheath their swords and allow peace reign.
This, he said, was especially as the credibility of the election had been ascertained by critical stakeholders.
He noted that world leaders had also started congratulating Tinubu after the Independent National Electoral Commission declared him the winner of the election, having satisfied the provisions of the Electoral Act.
Omole listed some of the global leaders including those of the United State of America through Ned Price (US State Department), who said the February 25 presidential election was competitive and represented a new period for Nigerian politics and democracy.
He said other world leaders that had congratulated Tinubu included France President Emmanuel Macron; Ukrainian President Zelensky and President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana, among others.
He recalled that Akufo-Addo had said that Tinubu’s victory at the polls would go a long way to enhance the quality of governance, the rule of law and the performance of the Nigerian economy.
He added that the President of the Republic of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, and the Economic Community of West African States Commission had also congratulated Tinubu as Nigeria’s president-elect.
He said former South Africa President and Head of the Commonwealth Observer Mission to Nigeria, Thabo Mbeki, had also congratulated Tinubu, urging him not to be far from the African continent when he eventually assumed office.
Omole, therefore, advised members of the opposition political parties, especially their presidential candidates, to follow the same path of honour and congratulate Tinubu who had already extended the olive branch to them.
This, he added, was the least a good sportsman would do in the face of defeat just like former President Goodluck Jonathan did in 2015 by conceding defeat even before INEC announced President Muhammadu Buhari as the winner of that election.
“Even while INEC was still collating the election results, Johnathan called Buhari to congratulate him having seen the likely outcome of the election in the spirit of a good sportsman, that should be the way to go, even now,” Omole said.
He called for maturity and restraint, especially among the political class, adding that Nigerians had spoken through the ballot loudly and clearly too.
He said heating up the polity would do no one any good because we had no other country to call home other than Nigeria.
He, however, advised that security agents should stay on the alert and deal with individuals and groups planning to foment trouble, saying that an election is not a war.
“It was an election, though the minority would have their say, the majority have spoken and they will always have their way,” he said.
Omole added that the APC train had left the station and was determined to enthrone good governance and a better life for all Nigerians with a Tinubu presidency.
He reminded that Nigerians in the Diaspora were part of the success story, saying they would continue to work to protect the mandate and Tinubu’s electoral victory as he waits to be sworn in as the county’s next president on May 29.