The Lamidi Apapa-led faction of the Labour Party has expressed the need for the 2023 Presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar and that of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, to emulate the President of Liberia, George Weah, and congratulate President Bola Tinubu.
The LP faction in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Abayomi Arabambi on Saturday, in Abuja, said it expected Obi and Atiku to have buried the hatchet and joined hands with Tinubu in delivering his Renewed Hope Agenda to Nigerians.
According to the statement, Weah had conceded defeat, by congratulating his opponent, Joseph Broakai, even while the election was still going on.
The statement reads: “The Liberian Presidential Election, though still on as the electoral umpire is yet to declare the winner of the election, the results so far have compelled the incumbent President George Weah to congratulate the opposition candidate, Boakai, who is the winner.
“The Labour Party believed that it’s instructive that elections like any competition would produce the winner and loser. This is why the behaviour and reaction of President George Weah even before the official announcement of the results of the presidential election in Liberia to his loss should be commended and African leaders should emulate.
“So far, Boalai is leading with over 28000 votes leaving a polling unit where voting has not commenced and 20 polling units results are under scrutiny. Whatever comes from the above would not in any way affect the results so far collated.
“Nigerian leaders should emulate this spirit of sportsmanship. Once both the winners and losers have explored all the available processes and opportunities provided by the laws and constitution, the winners should be magnanimous in victory and the losers should be sportsmen and return to the drawing table for the next election.
“Any election should not be taken as do or die affairs. It should not be a war, a battle. We need ourselves.
“President George Weah of Liberia again has shown like Former Presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari that incumbency is not a tool to be used to rig election and opposition should not be intimidated by incumbency.
“The electorate is the decider. Political parties compete for power by directing all their slogans, programmes and attention to the electorate. The people have spoken in the Republic of Liberia. President George Weah has accepted the decision of the Liberian voters.
“The time is ripe for former Vice-president and PDP presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and former Governor of Anambra State and presidential candidate of LP, Mr Peter Obi congratulated President Bola Ahmed Tinubu after the former had explored all the opportunities availed by the Constitution and the Electoral Law.
“As a responsible leader, the former President Goodluck Jonathan also did the same as George Weah, and today he is being reckoned with as a great pillar of democracy.
“The Labour Party therefore appealed to Obi and Atiku to support the administration and have faith in ongoing reforms.
“We had expected the duo to have buried the hatchet and joined hands with the president in delivering the Renewed Hope Agenda.
“The Labour Party believed that the sanctity of the people’s will, as expressed at the polls, had prevailed immediately after the Supreme Court delivered its verdict, so politics should have ended with that pronouncement.
”With the apex court ruling affirming the legitimacy of President Bola Ahmed’s administration, electoral litigation has come to an end; Peter Obi should stop whipping a dead horse and what else he wants anyway.
“Peter Obi and Atiku should exhibit the spirit of sportsmanship and congratulate the president and join hands with him to revamp the economy and deliver dividends of democracy to Nigerians.
“Lastly Labour Party wishes to end this statement with the golden words from Dr Martins Luther King “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter”
NigeriNigerians through the Labour Party therefore asked the two former presidential candidates to congratulate the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu(GCFR) in the spirit of one united Nigeria as we can not choose to remain silent in the face of political and economic challenges that is facing our country and which President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is working hard to overcome through the Renewed Hope Agenda.”
