Raji Ahmed and Kingsley Olawale, members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), have slammed certain Nigerians for criticizing the voting system that enabled Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the APC’s presidential candidate, win the 2023 election.
The two, who are allies of former Lagos Governor and President-elect Bola Tinubu, made the announcement in a statement sent to press on Saturday.
This reply follows the pro-Tinubu group/APC supporters solidarity march that took place in Abuja on Tuesday, March 28.
Tinubu, who is a former governor of Lagos State and national leader of the APC, won the 2023 presidential election over 17 other contenders polling 8,794,726 votes in total, the most of any candidate.
It was recalled that a number of well-known Nigerians, including former president Olusegun Obasanjo, civil society organisations, and indigenous groups had referred to the election as the worst in the nation’s history.
They had cited among other things, voter incentivisation, fraud, ballot snatching, fatalities, and failure to transmit electoral results.
Nonetheless, the pair in the press release stated that political thuggery, the taking of lives, and violence were part of the country’s electoral traditions and asked people who were offended by it to either leave the country or accept the results of the election.
“When civil rule returned, there were acts of violence and fatalities. It is important to treat those who lost their lives as casualties. The President-elect needs to concentrate on moving forward, therefore we must move on rebuilding Nigeria.
‘”A tribunal was established to consider complaints as well. You should accept the decision and remain at home if you are unable to confront the court. We won’t stand for pointless demonstrations.
“We also wish to state clearly that it’s not by force to stay in the country if you can not assist the President-elect and our leader, Bola Tinubu. It would be better to leave the country than expressing your grievances by shaming the process and maligning the character of our candidate. We will not tolerate that.”
