Jonathan deserves victory in S/West – Tinubu

The former governor of Lagos State and leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu yesterday admitted that President Goodluck Jonathan deserved to win in the South West. He also said that he has accepted the outcome of the presidential election in good faith until his party, ACN says otherwise.

“As a party leader, for now, I have accepted the results basically until my party says otherwise”, he said.

Addressing newsmen shortly after being accredited for the governorship election in his ward at Ikeja, Tinubu said the president worked hard for the victory he claimed was well deserved.

“Jonathan won in the Southwest according to INEC result. Be that as it may and as a democrat, one must be ready to accept the result of an election at a given time. In as much as the election is free and fair, people voted Jonathan”, he said.

He said ACN is yet to do the verification and the collation of data but as soon as it does that, the party could make any response.

“Jonathan won and as a democrat. Sincerely I am ready to accept the report of free and fair election in order to deserve the joy of victory at any given time. That is my principle and that is what I believe. Our party is yet to review the process, collate the data and do the verification test. We are still in election mood.

From the observation, INEC has declared the winner and as a party leader for now, I have accepted that until my party thinks otherwise,” he said.

Speaking further, Tinubu said: “If after the verification we find out malpractices, then we can take a position, but we are yet to do that and I will not jump to conclusion.”

He expressed concern over low turnout and voter apathy in some parts of the state but attributed this to the long holiday and fears of violence as currently being experienced in some parts of the country.

He also raised fear over growing violence in the North, saying that was what the ACN has fought against in Ekiti and Osun states since past four years.

“If you lose confidence in the judiciary, we all know that the next thing will be anarchy and that is why you will see less of the problem in South-west because there is some level of confidence in judicial process.

“But killing innocent people, youth corpers, will not solve the problem. I think we have to revisit the process, re-examine ourselves.

Again, we must give ourselves some respect. It is rather unfortunate that people’s approach to do or die and must win by all mean necessary without following due process is inimical to our unity, stability and economic development. We should all come together to avoid it and condemn it,” Tinubu said.

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