By Kamil Opeyemi
President Muhammadu Buhari has urged the aggrieved presidential candidates in the last general election to accept the ruling of the tribunal irrespective of the outcome.
The president made the appeal on Sunday in his farewell broadcast to the nation.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Tinubu as the winner of the February 25th presidential election.
However, candidates of major opposition parties, Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have both filed suits to challenge the outcome of the poll.
Appealing to them, Buhari praised them for believing in our judicial system as the only appropriate avenue to seek redress.
“This year, we witnessed the most keenly contested presidential elections since the First Republic, and this demonstrates that our democracy is getting better and more entrenched with each election,” the president said.
“We must as a nation improve and sustain gains we make in the electoral process, on an incremental basis for Nigeria to take its rightful place among nations.
“Our democracy provides for, allows and encourages seeking redress for perceived injustices, enabling some candidates and political parties that did not agree with the results to go to court.
“Irrespective of the outcome of the various cases, I urge all parties involved to accept the decision of our courts and join hands to build a better Nigeria.
“I salute the doggedness and resilience of all the presidential candidates and their political parties for believing in our judicial system by taking their grievances with the election results to court.
“In the course of the campaigns, we had argued and disagreed on how to make Nigeria better, but we never disagreed or had any doubts that Nigeria has to be better.”
President Buhari who assumed office on May 29th, 2015 is billed to hand over to his successor, Bola Tinubu on May 29th, 2023 after completed his constitutional two terms in office.