Search for Common Ground in Collaboration with the Nigerian media congratulates Nigerians on the largely peaceful Presidential and National Assembly elections and calls for peaceful resolution of any electoral dispute.

Search for Common Ground in collaboration with the Nigerian media has congratulated Nigerians on a largely peaceful process as attested to by many the observers both from local and international bodies. On Wednesday, February 27, 2019, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in Abuja declared incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, as the winner of the February 23rd presidential election.

With the announcement of the results by the INEC, Search for Common Ground in collaboration with the Nigerian media behoved all Nigerians to continue to remain on the path of peaceful co-existence.

It warned that heating up of the polity on account of the dispute over the election result or process would negate the gains already made and urges stakeholders with grievances to follow laid-down legal means of electoral dispute management in seeking redress.

Search for Common Ground noted the decision by Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, to contest the results of the election in court. It welcomed the decision to use legal means of electoral dispute management, which demonstrates that Nigerians are prepared to toe the path of peace rather than that of violence in the resolution of disputes.

Search for Common Ground aligned itself with the submissions of the Observation Missions of the African Union, ECOWAS, the European Union, the Commonwealth Observer Group in calling for restraint and for political parties and candidates to uphold the commitment to peaceful elections and resolution of disputes in keeping with the two peace accords signed in December 2018 and February 2019.

Political parties and politicians are enjoined to call on their supporters to remain calm and peaceful and refrain from any action that might incite post-election violence or increase ethno-religious tension in the country.

Search for Common Ground also seizes this opportunity to enjoin Nigerian other stakeholders to act responsibly in the use of media and social media and refrain from sharing hate speech, false or unverified information, or any information that could incite to violence. We encourage all stakeholders to work toward increased level of peaceful cohesion as the country prepares for the Governorship and States Houses of Assembly elections coming up on March 9 in most parts of the country.

– Feb. 28, 2019 @ 01:20 GMT |