By Ogochukwu Isioma
The President Joe Biden led government of the United States of America has congratulated Nigeria’s President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Tinubu was in the wee hours of Wednesday, declared the winner of the keenly contested February 25 presidential election by chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Mahmood Yakubu.
He polled 8,794,726 votes to defeat his closest rivals, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party and Labour Party’s Peter Obi who had 6,984,520 and 6,101,533 votes respectively.
In a statement on Thursday by Ned Price, Department of State’s Spokesperson, the U.S urged political parties to refrain from violence and use the judiciary to seek redress.
The U.S. described the February 25 presidential election as competitive, noting that the election represents a new period for Nigerian politics and democracy.
Price said each of the top three candidates (Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi) was the leading vote-getter in 12 states, a remarkable first in Nigeria’s modern political era
According to the U.S., this reflects the diversity of views that characterised the campaign and the wishes of Nigeria’s voters.
The statement reads in part: “We understand that many Nigerians and some of the parties have expressed frustration about the manner in which the process was conducted and the shortcomings of technical elements that were used for the first time in a presidential election cycle. Nigerians are clearly within their rights to have such concerns and should have high expectations for their electoral processes. We join other international observers in urging INEC to improve in the areas that need the most attention ahead of the March 11 gubernatorial elections.
“There are well-established mechanisms in place for the adjudication of electoral disputes, and we encourage any candidate or party seeking to challenge the outcome to pursue redress through those mechanisms. We call on all parties, candidates, and supporters to refrain from violence or inflammatory rhetoric at this critical time.
“We commend the active participation of civil society and the media for advancing electoral norms and political discourse on issues of importance to citizens. We note with concern reports that numerous members of the media were attacked during the course of the election, and we urge the government, security forces, political actors, and all citizens to respect the media’s critical role by refraining from any damaging acts against them and ensuring accountability for such acts when they do occur. We also congratulate the Nigerian people, especially the large number of youths who are relatively new to the political process, for demonstrating their strong commitment to democracy.”
