• Meet with Atiku, Kwankwaso, Obi and Tinubu in peace move●

  Former Nigeria President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, Ex-Ghanaian President John
  Mahama and other members of the West African Elders Forum (WAEF) Election Mission to Nigeria have appealed for calm in the country while calling on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to address the concerns and procedural questions raised so far by different stakeholders. The Elders  have also urged INEC to comply with the electoral law and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as a means of retaining the confidence of Nigerians in the on-going collating of the February 25, 20233 election results.
  The Elders who stated this in a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday also revealed that they have begun a process of consultations  with some of the presidential candidates and other key stakeholders, taking to them a message of peace in order to ensure that there is no breakdown of law and order in the country.
  The presidential candidates the Elders have met since the elections held on Saturday include Senator Bola Tinubu of All Progressives Congress, Mr. Peter Obi Of the Labour Party, Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso of the  New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
  In the statement jointly signed by Jonathan who is the convener of WAEF and Mahama, Head of WAEF’s Mission to Nigeria’s 2023 Elections, the Forum commended Nigerians for the calmness, patience and maturity they have continued to exhibit as they wait for the collation process to be concluded.
  The Mission further noted that Nigerians demonstrated faith and patriotism in their country, by defying the challenges of delay in arrival of electoral materials, voter suppression and incidents of violence to perform their civic duties of voting on election day.

  Below is the full text of the statement:

  STATEMENT BY WEST AFRICAN ELDERS FORUM (WAEF) ON NIGERIA’S FEBRUARY 25, 2023, 2023 ELECTIONS ISSUED IN ABUJA, NIGERIA, FEBRUARY 28, 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 held on Saturday February 25, 2023.

In December 2022, we deployed a pre-election mediation mission led by former Sierra Leonean President, His Excellency Ernest Bai Koroma to interface with key stakeholders. Our Election Mission led by former Ghana president, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama which has been in the country since last week, witnessed election day proceedings on February 25, 2023 and has continued to observe the unfolding developments, since the collation process began.

Other members of the Mission include former Beninoise President His Excellency Boni Yayi, former Nigerian President His Excellency Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, former Vice President of The Gambia, Her Excellency Fatoumata Jallo Tambajang, former Burkinabe Prime Minister and President of the Economic Community of West African States His Excellency Kadre Ouedraogo, and  former Deputy Chair of the African Union, Dr. Erastus Mwencha.
The Mission noted how Nigerians across the country demonstrated faith and patriotism in their country, defying many challenges to perform their civic duties. While the elections were peaceful in a number of places, challenges of delay in arrival of electoral materials, voter suppression, ballot box vandalization and incidents of violence in some states, created anxiety among citizens who were passionate to cast their ballots.

We commend Nigerians for the calmness, patience and maturity they have continued to exhibit as they wait for the collation process to be concluded.

The Mission notes that some political parties and concerned citizens have raised procedural questions and allegations of infractions of the electoral law in the process of collation of results. We call on all aggrieved parties to document and present their claims to INEC, in accordance with the Electoral Act 2022.

The Mission notes the imperative of retaining the confidence of Nigerians in the ongoing electoral process and, therefore, urges the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to thoroughly investigate those concerns and comply with the electoral law and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, in the process of collating the election results.
We reiterate that Nigeria is a major stakeholder in the sustainability of democracy in West Africa and the responsibility of maintaining the nation’s thriving democracy and the general peace of our sub-region rest on all our shoulders, especially on the integrity of INEC and other election management bodies in West Africa, during elections.  We therefore urge INEC to live up to its responsibility of delivering free, fair and credible elections, in accordance with the nation’s laws.

WAEF urges political parties, candidates and their supporters to remain calm and peaceful while awaiting the final outcome of the electoral process.

As former leaders who are committed to peace and stability in our sub-region, we have begun a round of consultations with some of the presidential candidates and other key stakeholders, taking to them our message of hope, understanding and peace.

So far, WAEF have held meetings with some of the presidential candidates including the Presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso and the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in Abuja.

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.

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.

Signed:
H.E. John Dramani Mahama                               H.E. Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan
President of the Republic of Ghana                  President, Federal Republic
(2012-2017)                                                           of Nigeria (2010-2015)
Head of WAEF Mission                                         Convener, WAEF
to Nigeria’s 2023

By Ayodele Oni

A former Minister for Works, Barnabas Gemade, has described former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s call for the cancellation of the Presidential election results as “imprudent intervention”

Speaking during a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, Gemade stated that: “This is a sad moment in the annals of our country’s democracy.

“The people who moved against the wish of our people and annulled a free and fair election in the past are at work again.

“Gentlemen of the press, I invited you here because of an assault on our democracy and rule of law. All leaders of this country and lovers of democracy must rise against this imprudent intervention. Indeed, we must all rise up in defence of democracy.

“After 24 years of unbroken democracy, this is not the kind of thing we want to encounter. We cannot afford to allow the gains we have recorded to be frittered away by a few misguided people who neither worked for democracy nor believed in its principles.

“Unfortunately, this set of people reaped from democracy; they reaped from our sweat, from our Labour for democracy. They reaped bountifully from where they did not sow.

“The call on Monday by former president Olusegun Obasanjo for the cancellation of a validly conducted election is a call for insurrection.

“It’s an attempt to incite our people to take arms against the state. It’s an assault on our collective psyche. We must not allow Obasanjo to have his way.

“We must condemn him and his satanic and unpatriotic call. I strongly condemn his statement and I call on all well-meaning Nigerians and our security agencies to call him to order. Security agents must pay special attention to this man and his antics.

“For the life of me, I find it difficult to understand why Obasanjo thinks he approximates the entire country. Why does he think he can decide for the country, or for the Nigerian people who have voted for a presidential candidate of their choice.

“Does Obasanjo understand what a transparent and credible election mean? Is he even qualified to talk about credibility in an election?

“Someone who corrupted our electoral system and through his protege, Prof Maurice Iwu, organized perhaps the most fraudulent election ever witnessed in this country. This was after he failed in his bid to get an unconstitutional third term in office.

“This former president wants to set standards for other leaders to follow. The truth is he has no standard or quality in his ways.

“What you find in his ways are indecency, dishonesty, deception, double face, treachery and wickedness. No one can give what he does not have.

“Obasanjo has been a thorn in the flesh of many presidents who came after him ostensibly for their refusal to hero worship him.

“Why does Obasanjo want to abort the baby that has already been born? Why does he want to visit violence on the country? Why does he want to plunge the country into anarchy? Because the fact is a winner has emerged from Saturday February 25 free and fair election.

“I urge President Buhari and INEC Chairman Prof. Yakubu to ignore him.The INEC chairman should announce the remaining results of the election and bring the process to a close.

“With this wicked and evil call, Obasanjo has added an inch to his opprobrium. He must be put where he belongs: in the dustbin of history.”