Information minister, Senator Patricia Akwashiki has urged contestants in the governorship election in Nasarawa State to emulate President Goodluck Jonathan by accepting the outcome of the exercise.
She said losers in the state and all other parts of the country participating in today’s elections must take the outcome in good faith.
She made the call in Kagbu, Nasarawa-Eggon polling unit after casting her vote, earlier in the day.
She said the sacrifice made by the President in conceding defeat in the presidential election had guaranteed peace and political stability in the nation, hence the need for contestants in the present and subsequent elections to always embrace the spirit of sportsmanship.
Senator Akwashiki stated that peace was paramount to development and that no any politician’s ambition was worth the life of any Nigerian.
The Information Minister equally appealed to the electorate to freely exercise their franchise in peace devoid of rancour and acrimony.
“We should be peaceful, no one’s blood is worth anybody’s political ambition. That was what our President said and we should stick by that. If our President was able to walk away from an election and accept defeat, everybody, the winner and the loser should be able to accept that the people’s will is what will carry the day”, she said.
The Minister noted that there was remarkable improvement in the conduct of the governorship and House of Assembly elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as almost all the electoral materials arrived the polling booth on time.
It has been observed that there were minimum problems encountered by the card reader during accreditation while there was high voter turn out in some of the polling units in Kagbu.