‘Abuja women’ ask Atiku to congratulate Buhari

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in last Saturday’s presidential election, Atiku Abubakar has been urged to tow the path of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan and congratulate President Muhammadu Buhari.

This appeal was made by “Two Million Women Rally for Democracy” on Friday.

Buhari of the All Progressive Congress (APC) was returned as president for a second-term by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

While the incumbent has continued to receive massive commendation over a free, fair and credible polls as well congratulatory messages from both local and international communities, the opposition has resolved to contest the mandate.

In a statement by Mary Onuche, convener, the Two Million Women Rally for Democracy, the group advised Atiku to quit his on-going “disruptive stance” on the election.

While acknowledging that the PDP candidate has the constitutional right to seek redress, Onuche said “such disruptive and frightful atmosphere” could lead to an a anarchy.

“ Fortunately for Nigeria, our democracy, though still young, has continued to evolve in ways that reassure us that things can only get better. One such leap is the development in 2015 when the then President Goodluck Jonathan called to congratulate the then winner of the presidential election, incumbent President Buhari, even before the votes’ tally was completed,” she said.

“That singular act of patriotism is today hailed as the benchmark of the level of statesmanship befitting of candidates in our elections. May God bless President Goodluck Jonathan, the hero of our modern democracy.

“This has become a modern democratic culture in Nigeria for which former President Jonathan will continue to receive accolades. Had he acted contrary at that time, perhaps democratic growth in Nigeria might have been stunted or even truncated.

“But thankfully he set the benchmark, a standard that we today expect from anyone that takes part in the presidential election.

“We therefore call on Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to emulate the statesmanship of President Jonathan and quit his on-going disruptive stance on the election. There has been series of calls on him to call and congratulate President Buhari as the winner of the election, which would infer that he would by consequence give up any legal challenge of the election result. We are tempted to align with the first half of this demand that Atiku calls President Buhari to offer his congratulations but we will not suggest that he forfeits his right to seeking judicial redress. He is very free to approach the courts to ventilate his grievances.”