The Buhari Campaign Organisation (BCO) has written to the
international community to caution the presidential candidate of Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar.
Specifically, the presidential campaign group petitioned the
European Union (EU) and the African Union (AU).
The group urged them to prevail upon Atiku to jettison his
plan of going to court to challenge President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election.
In separate letters addressed to the heads of EU and AU Observation Missions in
Nigeria, BCO noted that the international bodies must act fast to save the
country’s democracy from what it described as Atiku’s inequitable conduct
despite the reports of fairness in the just concluded polls by international
observers.
In the letters made available to journalists in Abuja on
Sunday by its Director of Communications and Strategic Planning, Mallam Gidado
Ibrahim, the BCO said Atiku ought to have congratulated President Buhari
instead of yielding to PDP’s politics of bitterness. The group pointed out that
Buhari’s magnanimity in victory, which was demonstrated in his appeal to his
supporters not to humiliate the opposition was enough reason for Atiku to
repent of his obstinacy and congratulate the president on his re-election.
BCO said: “We are writing to inform you of the undemocratic
tendencies of the presidential candidate of the main opposition party, PDP,
Atiku Abubakar, who has chosen to take the electoral process in Nigeria
backward after a peaceful and credible presidential and National Assembly
elections conducted penultimate Saturday.
“In spite of reports by foreign observers acknowledging the
polls as free, fair and peaceful, the opposition party and its candidate have
chosen to discredit the entire process and make the Observation Missions look
as if they are biased in their assessment of the just concluded presidential
poll.
“Apart from blatantly refusing to congratulate the winner of
the said poll, President Muhammadu Buhari, the PDP and its candidate have taken
the battle to court apparently to cause distractions with a view to slowing
down the wheels of governance in the country.
“The PDP is still inciting the Nigerian public against the
government of the day irrespective of the fact that President Buhari had been
magnanimous in victory. He has pledged to run an all-inclusive government and
has even urged us, his supporters, not to gloat or humiliate the opposition, an
enjoinder we have adhered strictly to the letter.
“We deem it fit to draw your attention to this brazen
attempt to frustrate the democratic process, hoping that you will intervene by
calling the PDP and its presidential candidate to order and ensure that the
tenets of democracy are adhered to in the ongoing electoral process in
Nigeria.
“Atiku should follow former President Goodluck Jonathan’s
example. Nobody’s life should be sacrificed for any politician’s ambition. He
should abide by the agreement signed by all presidential candidates with the
National Peace Committee to accept the results of the just concluded
presidential poll in good faith.
“Nigeria has, in the past witnessed enough shedding of the
blood of innocent Nigerians. If Atiku wants to help Nigerians, he should work
with the Buhari-led government for a prosperous nation. He should not set
Nigeria aflame with his inordinate ambition and insatiable thirst for power.”
