The leadership of the New Nigeria Initiative has appealed to the presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change in the just concluded election, Gen. Muhammed Buhari (retd) to reconsider his decision to challenge the victory of President Goodluck Jonathan in court.
CPC had on Friday rushed to the National Election Petitions Tribunal in Abuja to challenge Jonathan’s victory at the presidential election.
But the Chairman of NNI, Chief Dikievie Ikiogha, in a statement made available to our correspondent in Yenagoa on Saturday asked Buhari to consider the future of Nigerian youths and desist from legal moves against the president.
He said any legal action against the president over the election adjudged to be fair and credible by local and international observers would only heat up the polity.
Recalling that Buhari had made a public declaration that he would not contest the outcome of the election in court, Ikiogha urged the former head of state to keep to his words.
Noting that a legal action remained the prerogative of any aggrieved individual or group, he said the case of Buhari as an elder statesman made it mandatory for him to take actions that would stabilise the polity instead of heating it up.
He commended the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, for his commitment to a credible electoral process.
He said Jega had lived up to the confidence reposed in him by Nigerians.
He also attributed the success of the elections to the courage and determination of Nigerians to get the electoral process right for the first time in the country.
Ikiogha, however, condemned the post election violence in parts of the country and called on the Federal Government to beef up security in all the flashpoints.
He urged the government to arrest all the perpetrators and sponsors of the dastardly act.
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Presidential poll: Group advises Buhari to suspend legal action