May 29: CSO calls for peaceful inauguration

A Civil Society Organization, Youths United for Democracy (YUDEM), has called on politicians to give peace a chance by allowing the May 29 inauguration of a new administration to hold without heating up the polity.

Leader of the group, Mr. Bawa Umar, made the call on the sidelines of his team’s visit to Unity Fountain, Abuja, venue of the pro-democracy hangouts that has been ongoing for over 50 days.

Umar said: “It is gratifying to see so many Nigerians for so many weeks non-stop this much committed to the cause of justice and democracy by hanging out here to press home the need for all hands to be on deck to ensure a smooth transition from the incumbent to another administration both at national and state levels. We desperately need peace and security in this country and nothing must be done to further exacerbate our current security challenges.

“Everyone who disagrees with the outcome of the election must take advantage of Nigeria’s judicial system by approaching the Courts for redress and, having done that, allow the Courts to resolve the matters without anyone resorting to extra legal means to seek redress. Such an approach doesn’t help anyone and certainly doesn’t help our country.

“We support this Pre-Inauguration Hangouts and countdown to May 29th being a peaceful advocacy initiative to ensure a smooth transition to the incoming administration. We congratulate the organizers for a job well done and we promise that we are with you all the way to the last countdown.”

Responding, Dr. A.A Maiagogo, Co-Convener of the pre-inauguration hangouts, said: “Our presence here in the last 55 days is our own patriotic sacrifices to keep the sanity of our democracy intact and not allow anything to upset a smooth transmission of power from one administration to another as we have been having since 1999.

“Our intention is noble, our determination is unshakeable. We are pro-peace, pro-justice, pro-democracy, pro-rule-of-law and pro-good-governance. Justice can be gotten without violence and without overheating the polity as some wanted to turn this place into before our patriotic intervention.

“As the countdown to May 29th continues, we urge all Nigerians to cooperate with the outgoing government to give us a hitch-free transition from President Muhammadu Buhari to President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu so that this country would not be thrown into chaos or constitutional crises.

“One thing we are sure of is Tinubu will bring sterling governance qualities to bear as president and will activate a robust governance principle that would take Nigeria to the next level of socioeconomic advancement and indigenous technological take-off that would rival the best in the world.”