A forum of Arewa New Agenda (ANA), on Thursday, called on Presidential candidates who lost during the Saturday February 25 Presidential and National Assembly elections to sheathe their swords and support the incoming government.
The Arewa group, which made the call during a Press briefing in Abuja, said that the appeal became necessary in order to ensure a peaceful and stable Nigeria after the 2023 general elections.
The Convener, Senator Ahmad Moallahyidi, who spoke on behalf of the group said that they were moved to intervene by agitations training the Saturday elections, in which Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu was declared the winner of the presidential contest.
MoAllahyidi called on candidates who lost in the keenly contested election, to take it in good fate and support the winner to provide developmental governance, so that Nigerians could reap dividends of democracy.
He said: “my message to Nigerians is that they should remain calm and allow peace to reign because without peace, there can be no development. In every contest, there must be a winner and there must be a loser. So, let those who failed take it in good fate.
The group also called on former President Olusegun Obasanjo, to demonstrate his elder statesmanship by not making inciting comments on the outcome of the elections, stressing that without peace, there could be no progress.
“We are calling on the Elder statesman, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, to call on others and let’s join hands together with the incoming government so that we can join hands and build our countrycountry. Let’s stop making inciting statements because we need peace to grow; we need peace to develop as a nation.”
ANA maintained that the 2023 Presidential election was free and fair, arguing that if it were not so, some political parties couldn’t have won in some persons’ political strongholds.
The Arewa group said: “How can you say a political electioneering process where Tinubu couldn’t deliver Lagos; Ganduje couldn’t deliver Kano, El-Rufai couldn’t deliver Kaduna, Buhari couldn’t deliver Katsina; APC Chairman couldn’t deliver Nasarawa; Ahmed Lawan couldn’t deliver Yobe; Lalong couldn’t deliver Plateau and even lost his Senatorial bid; Philip Aduda couldn’t deliver Abuja; South East Governors lost in South East. Is this same election that you are vilifying as a corrupted process?
“Food for thought: Peter Obi wins Tinubu’s Lagos; Atiku wins Buhari’s Katsina Tinubu did not even win Osun, Atiku did; Kwankwaso wins Ganduje’s Kano; Peter Obi wins Abdullahi Sule’s Nasarawa, Atiku wins Mai Mala’s Yobe.”
“What other transparency can be better than this? We of the Arewa New Agenda commend President Buhari for opening up the space for everyone to exercise his/her franchise and discharge his responsibility to the nation by voting freely. We encourage the INEC Chairman and his hardworking staff to remain steadfast and undaunted in this national assignment.
“We salute our security men and women for holding the country together that led to the very peaceful election of February 25th 2023. We look forward to seeing another successful outing on March 11th 2023.
“Finally, we suggest that Chief Obasanjo consider being circumspect in his speeches lest he misleads the public into assuming that he has anything good to offer.”
