12th April, 2015
Dr Lawal Aliyu, the Majority Leader of Katsina State House of Assembly and PDP candidate for Musawa constituency, has urged his counterparts to emulate President Jonathan by accepting election results without rancour.
Aliyu made the remark on Saturday in Musawa after voting in the Governorship and State Assembly election.
He stressed the need for increased decorum among political aspirants in the country.
The lawmaker commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies for peaceful conduct of the elections.
Similarly, urged governorship and House of Assembly candidates in Saturday’s elections have been urged to emulate President Goodluck Jonathan’s spirit of sportsmanship demonstrated after the announcement of March 28 presidential election result.
Chairman of Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Alhaji Umar Kukuri, made the call in an interview with NAN in Damaturu, Yobe, on Sunday.
Kukuri said that conceding defeat and congratulating winner of the election would avert violence, which often followed release of elections results in the country.
According to him, candidates who genuinely lost the election should concede and congratulate the winner just like President Jonathan conceded and congratulated Buhari in the last election.
He urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to declare results of the elections to represent the actual vote of the electorate.
He advised that “where political parties or their candidates have grievances, it should be pursued through acceptable channels provided by the Constitution.”
Kukuri commended women for their large turnout in the elections, saying that they outnumbered the voters in some cases and added value to growth of democracy in Nigeria.
“It is amazing to see women, including pregnant and breast-feeding mothers completing their house chores and joining election queues very early in the morning.
“As mothers, women have campaigned vigorously against election violence and promoted peaceful elections,” he said.
He said “IPAC as umbrella body of all political parties wish to specially appreciate women electorate for their perseverance and faith in democracy.
“The massive turnout of Internally Displaced Persons to participate in the elections in spite of their predicaments also demonstrates the people’s faith in democratic governance’’.
The chairman also commended the people of Yobe for their peaceful conduct across the state during the polls, saying “it is commendable that the presidential and governorship elections were conducted peacefully across the state.’’