By Abimbola Ogunnaike
The West Africa Elders Forum (WAEF) has told Presidential Candidates of Saturday’s general elections and their supporters to maintain peace.
Former Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan; ex-Ghanaian President John Mahama and other members of the West African Elders Forum (WAEF) Election Mission to Nigeria made this known in a statement on Tuesday, 28 February, 2023, in Abuja.
They appealed for calm in the country while commending Nigerians for the resilience and patriotism displayed during the Presidential and National Assembly election, held on February 25, 2023.
“The West Africa Elders Forum (WAEF) Election Mission to Nigeria, 2023, wishes to commend Nigerians for the resilience and patriotism displayed during the Presidential and National Assembly election which was held on Saturday February 25, 2023.
“This afternoon we also held consultations with the All Progressives Congress Presidential candidate Senator Bola Tinubu and the Labour Party Presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, in an expanded meeting that included the Heads of Missions of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU), His Excellency Ernest Bai Koroma and His Excellency Uhuru Kenyatta, respectively, as well as the President of the ECOWAS Commission, His Excellency Dr. Omar Alieu Touray,” the statement reads.
“We have continued, in all of these meetings, to urge the candidates and their supporters to maintain peace and use all available legitimate means to sort out their concerns and grievances. We hope to sustain this Mission until the electoral processes are successfully concluded.
“We, therefore, urge everyone to be circumspect in their actions and responsibilities, during this moment in order not to jeopardize the collective stability and peace of the nation,” WAEF added
Meanwhile, earlier on Tuesday, Datti Baba-Ahmed and Ifeanyi Okowa, vice-presidential candidates of LP and PDP, had asked INEC to cancel the general election.
At a media briefing held in Abuja, they accused INEC of breaching the law by not uploading the election results to its online portal.
They described the elections as “a sham”, and that it was “neither free nor fair”.
Speaking on behalf of both parties, Okowa said: “Results were not transmitted from the polling units — non-compliance with mandatory statutory requirement.
“We call on the commission to tread on the part of honour and commence the process of a fresh election that will not only be credible but will be seen to be credible by Nigerians.”
The development came hours after the PDP and LP asked the electoral body to cancel the elections and also demanded that Mahmood Yakubu, INEC chairperson, step aside
