Don’t heat up the polity over May 29 inauguration, group tells opposition

A Civil Society Organization, Youths United for Democracy (YUDEM) has called on all political stakeholders in Nigeria to give peace a chance and allow the May 29th inauguration to hold without heating up the polity.

Speaking to journalists when he and his team visited the Unity Fountain, venue of the pro-democracy hangouts, that has been ongoing for over 50 days in Abuja, leader of the group, Mr. Bawa Umar, stated that, “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 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 to the group, Dr. A.A Maiagogo, the Co-Convener of the Pre-Inauguration Hangouts at Unity Fountain, Abuja, said “We welcome you and, indeed, all Nigerians to this symbol of our national unity called Unity Fountain where we have been gathering for the past 55 days to ensure that we keep vigil here and not allow antidemocratic forces use it for their nefarious agenda. 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 Buhari to Tinubu so that this country would not be thrown into chaos or constitutional crises. That’s unnecessary and even unreasonable. We have the courts to adjudicate on election matters and we should allow the legal due processes to run their cause as we’ve been witnessing since 1999. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended, is very clear and sacrosanct as to what course of action to take whenever anyone has grievances with the outcome of an election. That’s what we advocate here on a daily basis for the past 55 days and will continue to do until May 29th.”