…urges Tinubu to douse tension

By Gabriel Ewepu, ABUJA

THE Arewa New Agenda, AWA, Wednesday, warned former President Olusegun Obasanjo, not to ignite crisis across the country with comments and calls to cancel the February 25 presidential election.

AWA which is a pan-Northern forum, led by its Convener, Senator Ahmad Abubakar Moallahydi, during a press conference held to douse tension on the heels of the declaration of Bola Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, while calling on Nigerians to support the president-elect and ignore calls for violence.

Moallahydi said the press conference by Obasanjo was uncalled-for and should be rejected.

He also pointed out that the elections were transparently conducted by INEC, hence the opposition winning Lagos, Kano, Plateau, Nasarawa, Gombe, Katsina, Ebonyi, Anambra, Delta, Kaduna and Yobe States.

He said: “ANA on behalf of the teeming Northerners who trooped out to vote for HE Sen. Bola Ahmed Tinubu, we congratulate Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu the President-elect of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“This victory is a Nigerian success story. In the spirit of national Cohesion, we look forward to a new beginning and urge all Nigerians to close ranks and support the incoming administration to take the country to greater heights.

“In the same vein, we hasten to respond to some self-serving individuals whose utterances are at variance with peaceful coexistence especially former president Olusegun Obasanjo.

“We read Chief Obasanjo’s press release calling on the INEC Chairman to bow to some of his (Obasanjo’s caprices) which as expected has gone viral as we believe that is one of the effects, he set out to achieve; in it, he shared his thoughts about how he thinks things should go in the electioneering process for the 2023 national elections.

“We are sure he is aware that his disposition has triggered a lot of debates and engendered mixed reactions nationwide; it has been perceived in different ways by different people depending on their political persuasions and the interests they represent.

“Of utmost importance is the centrality of his person in this discourse; let us explain for clarity: he was president on two terms in our current democratic dispensation (1999-2007); he is a retired general (A national veteran) and an elder Statesman. All these he has earned and we deeply respect and hold him in very high esteem.

“We, however, depart from him in his penchant for fanning the embers of regionalism, ethnicity and sectionalism.

“We are at pains to remind him of the various attempts he made to truncate democracy, like his failed third term bid which Nigerians truncated, till date it stinks to high heavens!

‘His stance in the press release further deepens the perception of the pathology of duplicity and chameleonic tendencies often associated with his kind of politics; he forgets very easily that he told the nation that he has retired from politics- let the drums of war not sound from his backyard.

“Our word of caution is for him to understand the limits of political mercantilism. It was good when he benefited from an alliance with the North; now that it is someone else’s turn, he is angry and frustrated because it is no longer about him. It does not look, good sir, because it cannot always be you.

“We call on the good people of the great nation Nigeria to disassociate themselves from the inciting press release by former President Obasanjo as he is trying to undermine our democracy that our people have laboured since the commencement of the release of guidelines by INEC for the 2023 national elections as this is unacceptable, we encourage all and sundry who have issues to seek redress through laid processes.”

Meanwhile, the group called on the president-elect, Bola Tinubu, to reach out to Nigerians and douse tensions as he had promised.

The group also encouraged the INEC Chairman to remain steadfast and undaunted in his national assignment.