The Presidency has welcomed the endorsement of 2019 Presidential Elections as free, fair and credible on Tuesday in Abuja by 60 presidential candidates and chairmen of their parties, and called on other opposition parties to accept loss with grace and maturity.
Reacting to the press conference of the Joint Forum, the Presidency assured that President Buhari would look into the Electoral Act as the candidates had advised.
“We are encouraged by the patriotism of the Presidential Candidates expressed in clear and matured language. We are convinced that, regardless of our different political persuasions we can work together to improve electoral integrity in Nigeria,’’ the Presidency said in a statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity Mr Garba Shehu.
The Presidency said it is in agreement with the Joint Forum that “despite the temporary setbacks experienced at the beginning, INEC managed to produce an election in which the voice of the ordinary people counted. Democracy is founded on the will of the people and INEC did well to ensure this outcome was achieved in the 2019 elections.’’
The Presidency restated that “the success of democracy does not only depend on electoral laws, but also on behaviour, character and attitude of politicians.’’
The Presidency reiterated that “do-or-die politics is a threat to the success of electoral laws and democracy. And you don’t need to kill in order to serve the people.’’
The Presidency assured members of the joint forum of the 60 political parties and chairmen of parties that the president would not spare any effort in signing the Electoral Act into law after looking into it.
