The United States government has sent its congratulatory message to the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu on his victory in the last presidential election in Nigeria, and also urged the aggrieved political parties to refrain from violence and seek redress in court.
This was contained in a statement issued by the spokesperson for the department of states, Ned Price, on Thursday.
US described the just concluded Saturday 25 keenly contested presidential election, as competitive and a new era for democracy and the country’s political space.
While appreciating Nigerians and all the stakeholders, for the success of the last Saturday poll, US mentioned different attacks that took place during the poll, most especially, attack on the media personalities, saying that, it was a slap on the democracy, noting that the importance of the media in the society cannot be overemphasized.
The statement reads: “We understand that many Nigerians and some of the parties have expressed frustration about the manner in which the process was conducted and the shortcomings of technical elements that were used for the first time in a presidential election cycle. Nigerians are clearly within their rights to have such concerns and should have high expectations for their electoral processes. We join other international observers in urging INEC to improve in the areas that need the most attention ahead of the March 11 gubernatorial elections.
“There are well-established mechanisms in place for the adjudication of electoral disputes, and we encourage any candidate or party seeking to challenge the outcome to pursue redress through those mechanisms. We call on all parties, candidates, and supporters to refrain from violence or inflammatory rhetoric at this critical time.
“We commend the active participation of civil society and the media for advancing electoral norms and political discourse on issues of importance to citizens. We note with concern reports that numerous members of the media were attacked during the course of the election, and we urge the government, security forces, political actors, and all citizens to respect the media’s critical role by refraining from any damaging acts against them and ensuring accountability for such acts when they do occur. We also congratulate the Nigerian people, especially the large number of youths who are relatively new to the political process, for demonstrating their strong commitment to democracy.”