The President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has said no matter how provocative a defeat is, it must be tolerated by democrats.
He said this in an apparent response to reaction of Atiku Abubakar, Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Peter Obi of Labour Party.
The duo’s parties called for a cancellation of the election while collation was underway. They alleged that the process had been manipulated as a result of the non-use of BVAS.
While responding to questions from State House reporters after a visit to President Muhammmadu Buhari in his country home of Daura, Katsina State, on Wednesday, Tinubu said nation-building ought to be paramount to democrats.
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Tinubu, who commended the President for supporting democracy in Africa, said he was following the process, building a successor and ready to hand over peacefully.
On the motive behind his visit to the President, he said: “I came to present the certificate of return to him (Buhari) as the party leader and commend his efforts in supporting democracy in Africa, this is the largest democracy in Africa and he couldn’t have done any better, we are lucky there is no incident, there is no accident, and no matter how provocative a defeat is, we still have to tolerate it because we are democrats and we are trying to build a nation.”
On the takeaways from the visit, he identified: “the calmness and commitment and the fact that after voting, he taught us again dedication to our party by displaying his ballot papers, loyalty to the party and being ready to create a future for all of us and no matter how tempting the problem of democracy is, he is following the process, building a successor and ready to hand over peacefully, you know in Africa it’s a big deal you know.”
Asked to speak on messages of congratulations, Tinubu said: “oh very many, many of that in fact as far as Europe, the stock market reacted positively well, there was a goodwill message from Macron, the President of France.”
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, said there were jubilant scenes at the home of President Buhari, Wednesday evening, when the President-elect, and the Vice President-elect Senator Kashim Shettima, made a triumphal entry into Buhari’s residence in Daura, with each of them brandishing their certificates of return.
Shehu said the President, who was apparently overcome with a lot of emotions, seeing the “phenomenal election result,” kept repeating, “My Good Lord, My Good Lord,” “Fantastic.”
“We are very lucky,” the President uttered as he warmly clasped the hand of the President-elect, “there were no problems. No blood shed, no accidents. We have God Almighty to thank for this.”
President Buhari said he was pleased that the people chose the APC and its candidates, affirming through this, their desire that the momentum of development under the administration continues.
The President commended the party supporters and the Presidential Campaign Council for the “historic win,” which he said would never have been possible without discipline, commitment and hard work.
The election winner and his deputy were accompanied to Daura by the Chairman of the APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, the founding chairman, Chief Bisi Akande as well as the Governors of Katsina, Kaduna, Ebonyi, Zamfara, Lagos and Jigawa.
Other were the Governors of Kebbi, Niger, Plateau, Ogun and the former Governors of Borno, Ali Modu Sheriff and that of Zamfara, Abdulaziz Yari.
There were also Ministers of Youth and Sports, Sunday Dare and Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
Also on the entourage were Alhaji Kashim Imam, Wale Tinubu, the Deputy Governor of Katsina State, Mannir Yakubu and the Speaker of the Parliament of Kaduna state Yusuf Ibrahim Zailani.
