Buhari's Campaign Organisation writes AU, EU, over Atiku’s refusal to concede defeat

The Buhari Campaign Organisation (BCO) has written to the international community to caution the presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar.

Specifically, the presidential campaign group petitioned the European Union (EU) and the African Union (AU).

The group urged them to prevail upon Atiku to jettison his plan of going to court to challenge President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election.

In separate letters addressed to the heads of EU and AU Observation Missions in Nigeria, BCO noted that the international bodies must act fast to save the country’s democracy from what it described as Atiku’s inequitable conduct despite the reports of fairness in the just concluded polls by international observers.

In the letters made available to journalists in Abuja on Sunday by its Director of Communications and Strategic Planning, Mallam Gidado Ibrahim, the BCO said Atiku ought to have congratulated President Buhari instead of yielding to PDP’s politics of bitterness.

The group pointed out that Buhari’s magnanimity in victory, which was demonstrated in his appeal to his supporters not to humiliate the opposition was enough reason for Atiku to repent of his obstinacy and congratulate the president on his reelection.

BCO said: “We are writing to inform you of the undemocratic tendencies of the presidential candidate of the main opposition party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, who has chosen to take the electoral process in Nigeria backward after a peaceful and credible presidential and National Assembly elections conducted penultimate Saturday.

“In spite of reports by foreign observers acknowledging the polls as free, fair and peaceful, the opposition party and its candidate have chosen to discredit the entire process and make the Observation Missions look as if they are biased in their assessment of the just concluded presidential poll.

“Apart from blatantly refusing to congratulate the winner of the said poll, President Muhammadu Buhari, the PDP and its candidate have taken the battle to court apparently to cause distractions with a view to slowing down the wheels of governance in the country.

“The PDP is still inciting the Nigerian public against the government of the day irrespective of the fact that President Buhari had been magnanimous in victory. He has pledged to run an all-inclusive government and has even urged us, his supporters, not to gloat or humiliate the opposition, an enjoinder we have adhered strictly to the letter.

“We deem it fit to draw your attention to this brazen attempt to frustrate the democratic process, hoping that you will intervene by calling the PDP and its presidential candidate to order and ensure that the tenets of democracy are adhered to in the ongoing electoral process in Nigeria.

“Atiku should follow former President Goodluck Jonathan’s example. Nobody’s life should be sacrificed for any politician’s ambition. He should abide by the agreement signed by all presidential candidates with the National Peace Committee to accept the results of the just concluded presidential poll in good faith.

“Nigeria has, in the past witnessed enough shedding of the blood of innocent Nigerians. If Atiku wants to help Nigerians, he should work with the Buhari-led government for a prosperous nation. He should not set Nigeria aflame with his inordinate ambition and insatiable thirst for power.”