US congratulates Tinubu, asks INEC to address concerns before March 11 polls

The U.S. has congratulated Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the president-elect, for his victory in Saturday’s election.

Tinubu secured 8,794,726 votes while Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had the second-highest figure with 6,984,52 and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) polled 6,101,533 votes.

In a statement, Ned Price, spokesperson for the State Department, said Nigerians were clearly within their rights to have such concerns and should have high expectations for their electoral processes in the just-concluded Presidential poll.

“The United States congratulates the people of Nigeria, President-elect Tinubu, and all political leaders following the declaration by Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the results of the February 25 presidential election.  This competitive election represents a new period for Nigerian politics and democracy.  Each of the top three candidates was the leading vote-getter in 12 states, a remarkable first in Nigeria’s modern political era, reflecting the diversity of views that characterized the campaign and the wishes of Nigeria’s voters.

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“We understand that many Nigerians and some of the parties have expressed frustration about the manner in which the process was conducted and the shortcomings of technical elements that were used for the first time in a presidential election cycle.  Nigerians are clearly within their rights to have such concerns and should have high expectations for their electoral processes. We join other international observers in urging INEC to improve in the areas that need the most attention ahead of the March 11 gubernatorial elections.

“There are well-established mechanisms in place for the adjudication of electoral disputes, and we encourage any candidate or party seeking to challenge the outcome to pursue redress through those mechanisms.  We call on all parties, candidates, and supporters to refrain from violence or inflammatory rhetoric at this critical time.

“We commend the active participation of civil society and the media for advancing electoral norms and political discourse on issues of importance to citizens.  We note with concern reports that numerous members of the media were attacked during the course of the election, and we urge the government, security forces, political actors, and all citizens to respect the media’s critical role by refraining from any damaging acts against them and ensuring accountability for such acts when they do occur.  We also congratulate the Nigerian people, especially the large number of youths who are relatively new to the political process, for demonstrating their strong commitment to democracy.”