A former coordinator in the dissolved All Progressives Congress Campaign Council, Dr. Ene Ogbole, has called on the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, and his counterpart in the Labour Party, Peter Obi, to withdraw their cases from the election petition tribunal and join President Bola Tinubu in his quest for a government of national unity.
Ogbole made the appeal at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday.
She said, “Even though we are aware that it is the fundamental right of all aggrieved candidates to seek redress in the court of law, in the national interest we wish to use this avenue to crave the indulgence of all aggrieved candidates including Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi who are seeking for redress in the tribunal to withdraw their litigations against the president and join hands with him in the proposed national unity and all-inclusive government.
“We are saying this confidently because we can see from all indications that the Tinubu-led administration is ready to work assiduously to install peace, development, and progress in Nigeria. We are certain that the priority of all candidates of other political parties is to do the same selflessly in the national interest since Tinubu is playing out their intentions they could and should go a step further to synergize with him to achieve the same patriotic purpose in the national interest.”
Her appeal is coming hours after Atiku called up a digital forensic expert to testify in aid of its petition against the president at the tribunal.
During the resumed hearing of their petition, the 26th witness in the petition, the witness, Hitler Nwala, led in evidence by the petitioners’ counsel, Chris Uche, SAN, submitted a report of his investigation carried out on the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System.
The witness asserted that his findings show that the election results of the Federal Capital Territory during the presidential elections were deliberately deleted from the BVAS machine.
But the former coordinator of Tinubu’s campaign council stated that the only way to prove to the world that Obi and Atiku’s struggles are not personal or for selfish gain is for them to withdraw their cases from the court and work together with the president to actualise his ‘Renewed Hope’ promises to Nigerians.
According to her, Tinubu’s government has proven beyond every reasonable doubt to be transformational in nature with huge potential to reunite and reposition Nigeria for a breakthrough.
“The present administration is doing excellent well already as evident in most of the nation-building steps he has embarked on such as the fuel subsidy removal, the education bill that was signed to law, the display of uncommon fairness and equity in the appointment of keys principal office holders and of course, his monitory and economic policies only to mention but a few.
“We are also using this opportunity to call on all our elder statesmen from across the length and breadth of Nigeria to swiftly without further delays invite all aggrieved parties to a round table meeting and appeal to them not to subvert the will of the people through distractions but to join hands with the government that was willingly elected by Nigerians to change their story through unprecedented development for the betterment of all and Sundry.
“You will agree with us that it is certainly not the time for further distractions; it is time to move Nigeria forward in a positive direction. This is a call for a unity government in the national interest,” she said.
A former presidential aspirant of the Social Democratic Party in the build-up to the 2023 election, Cesnabmihilo Nihu-Aken’Ova also joined her voice in making the same appeal, saying the outcome of the poll was evident that the former Lagos governor won it.
“It was clear that Tinubu won this election. Those going to court are wasting our time from what we have seen so far. We have passed the stage of the campaign and even Atiku and Obi’s candidates at the governorship and National Assembly level have all been sworn in. I am speaking from my own point of view as a presidential aspirant,” she said.