Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The National Peace Committee, led by former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, has met with President Muhammadu Buhari, disclosing that they have presented the grievances of his major challenger in the just concluded presidential race, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, to him.
Atiku had disagreed with the result as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, vowing to challenge it in court. INEC had announced Buhari as the winner of the presidential election which held on Saturday, February 23, 2019.
Buhari, polled a total of 15,191,847 to defeat Atiku who garnered 11,262,978 to place second in the poll. The meeting started around 3pm at the President’s office and ended at 4pm. Also at the meeting were Bishop of Sokoto Catholic Diocese, Hassan Matthew Kukah and Cardinal John Onaiyekan and the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole.
According to the former Head of State, “Atiku presented his grievances and his observations, he did not present any conditions, he gave his complaints, which we have presented and discussed with Mr. President to see what can be done.”
Speaking on the elections result which has left some aggrieved Abubakar said, “Yesterday (Thursday), l met the PDP presidential candidate and his party in order to ensure peace that this committee is really after, our concern is about Nigeria. And in order to listen to their grievances and what they think has gone wrong and we are here today to see His Excellency the President in order to relay the fears and concerns of the PDP and Mr. President, he listened to us and has taken note of what we have told him.”
On the committee’s message to Nigerians as they work to achieve peace, the former head of state said, “Well, Nigerians should please on behalf of this country and all of us, regardless, know that we need peace. This country is very, very important to all of us. We are not talking about self-interest, we are talking about the interest of the country.
“I keep saying, when ever there is violence, we are not going to see violence in Ikoyi, in the Villa and you will not find violence in the various government houses in this country. It is always the poor man that gets to kill themselves and so on. So, please, yes, as much as we have grievances, l am glad that the PDP said they are going to court to challenge the process, l think this is the right way to go about it, and l hope and pray that we will maintain this.”
The committee had also met with Atiku and his team which included the PDP Vice Presidential candidate, Peter Obi, the National Chairman of PDP, Prince Uche Secondus; Director General of PDP Campaign, Dr. Bukola Saraki and other PDP chieftains on Thursday.
Atiku had demanded among others: unfreezing of bank accounts belonging to opposition politicians; demilitarization of subsequent elections; accreditation of voters before voting in subsequent elections; INEC should open its back end server to all participating parties and the release of all politicians detained illegally by the federal government.