Accept tribunal verdict regardless of outcome, Buhari tells presidential candidates

President Muhammadu Buhari has called on presidential candidates in the last general election to accept the ruling of the tribunal — irrespective of the outcome.

The president spoke on Sunday in his farewell broadcast to the nation.

After eight years in office, Buhari is billed to hand over power to Bola Tinubu, president-elect, on May 29.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Tinubu as the winner of the presidential election in February.

However, candidates of major opposition parties — Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) — have filed suits to challenge the outcome of the poll.

Speaking on the development, Buhari praised them for “believing in our judicial system” as the only appropriate avenue to seek redress.

He urged them to accept the court ruling — favourable or not — and support the winner “to build a better Nigeria”.

“This year, we witnessed the most keenly contested presidential elections since the First Republic, and this demonstrates that our democracy is getting better and more entrenched with each election,” the president said.

“We must as a nation improve and sustain gains we make in the electoral process, on an incremental basis for Nigeria to take its rightful place among nations.

“Our democracy provides for, allows and encourages seeking redress for perceived injustices, enabling some candidates and political parties that did not agree with the results to go to court.

“Irrespective of the outcome of the various cases, I urge all parties involved to accept the decision of our courts and join hands to build a better Nigeria.

“I salute the doggedness and resilience of all the presidential candidates and their political parties for believing in our judicial system by taking their grievances with the election results to court.

“In the course of the campaigns, we had argued and disagreed on how to make Nigeria better, but we never disagreed or had any doubts that Nigeria has to be better.”