Mr. Ade Omole, the Director of the Diaspora Directorate, All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), has called on opposition political leaders to embrace Sen. Bola Tinubu as Nigeria’s president-elect.
Omole, who made the appeal on Sunday in Abuja, urged the opposition to emulate World leaders who saw a need, congratulated and recognized Tinubu as Nigeria’s president-elect.
According to him, the minimal hitches experienced during the Feb.25th elections 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 sheathe their swords and allow peace to reign.
This, he said, was especially as the credibility of the election had been ascertained by critical stakeholders.
Omole, therefore, advised members of the opposition political parties, especially their presidential candidates, to follow the same path of honor 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.