ACF urges Tinubu to treat Nigerians as one big family

The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has advised Nigeria’s president-elect, Bola Tinubu, to ignore the voting power that brought him to power and treat everyone equally.

The ACF made the call in a statement issued on Wednesday by its Secretary-General, Murtala Aliyu.

The group urged the former Lagos State governor to treat Nigeria as a big family, saying no nation thrives without unity.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had in the early hours of Wednesday declared Tinubu the winner of last Saturday’s presidential election.

He polled 8,794,726 votes to defeat his closest rival, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who secured 6,984,520 votes.

The Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, finished in third position with 6,101,533 votes.

The statement read: “In offering our congratulations to Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the winner of the presidential election, we hasten to remind him that he does not have all that much time to redeem his pledge to become a leader and unifier of all Nigerians.

“ACF welcomes his promise to run an inclusive government made in his acceptance speech.

“To become a leader of all Nigerians requires him to ignore the voting pattern that brings him to power and treat the entire country as one big family.

“This is more so because no nation thrives through the victory of its factions but by ultimate reconciliation.

“It has to be admitted that no one in good conscience ever thought an exercise as gigantic as conducting a general election in a country of over 200 million people would go without hitches or setbacks.

READ ALSO: Tinubu meets Buhari, presents certificate of return

“No country under the sun has ever conducted elections that are perfect and without errors.

“We are, after all, still early within our learning curve in this democratic experience.

“Anticipating shortcomings, our laws have already provided for judicial mechanisms for resolving or redressing possible disputes and disagreements among the contestants.

“Those who failed to win this time should know that they have several opportunities to try to do so in the future.

“They should therefore exhibit the spirit of sportsmanship.

“The ACF makes bold to say that Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the main opposition party, the PDP, Peter Obi of the Labour Party, Musa Rabiu Kwankwaso of NNPP and the other presidential candidates that stood against Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the APC, all ran admirably strong and sophisticated campaigns.

“With a few exceptions, they tried this time around to pursue issue-based campaigns.

“They should all be justly proud of their achievements.

“For Peter Obi and Musa Kwankwaso, in particular, who are relatively younger and have age on their side, it is clear that they have established their credentials as powerful presidential candidates which may be helpful in the years to come.”

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