Ladies and gentlemen of the media,
We have come here today to express our gratitude to the Nigerian people for the overwhelming support that we received over the last few weeks when it comes to the issue of the Presidential election.
We are very proud of the efforts of our President and of our party
and we are also very proud of the efforts of every
single one of those who participated in the Presidential Campaign
Organisation. As a Directorate we could not have asked for anything more in
terms of support and encouragement from our colleagues and comrades within the
party and the Campaign Organisation. I am personally very
proud of my team, every single one of them; my Assistant Directors, my
officers, my advisory team and every single one of those that joined hands to
help us to state our case and to sell our candidate to the Nigerian people.
It has however come to a point that we
must tell the world and the Nigerian people about how we feel about the outcome
of the election. What we will say here
today is basically to reiterate and to reflect the words of our leader and
President, President Goodluck Jonathan. We start by saying that we commend and we congratulate
General Muammadu Buhari for winning this election. We also wish to commend our
President, President Goodluck Jonathan, for having the courage to
concede that he has lost the election at the earliest moment
and also for being able to stand up and rise above party politics and being able to speak
like a statesman.
We therefore urge the Nigerian people and our teeming supporters to
stand firm and continue to support the democratic process and continue to
agitate for a better Nigeria. We urge them to continue to support our party the
PDP as best as they can even though we lost this election. We ask them to
co-operate with the incoming government and to remember that we are first and
foremost Nigerians before anything else.
On the day of the election when I went to vote at Ile-Ife, I held
a press conference in which I told the people that
more than anything else that we should try our very best
to keep the peace in this country and to keep the country moving forward. I
also reminded them that in every election there will always
be a winner and a loser. It is a mark of our humanity and it is also
symptomatic of the type of people that we are and who we are that when the
time comes we can say we fought a good fight but we lost.
And having lost, it does not mean that it is the end
to the world, it just means that we need to re-group, re-organise ourselves and
begin the process all over again because another elections will come in a few
years time. And that is where we are today. We have conceded that we have lost. We
acknowledge the fact that we fought a good fight. We do not have any fears about
the future. We did the right thing during the campaign. We have no regrets about
our candidate or the way in which we
conducted our campaign and we will live to fight another day
Finally let me commend all our colleagues on the
other side for also standing up for what they believed in. There was absolutely nothing
personal as regards this Directorate or myself. I had nothing
personal against anybody. I was simply doing my job for which I have no regrets and I wish
them well and I sincerely hope that they will take Nigeria to a level that we
can all be proud of.
May God grant each and everyone of us peace. May He watch
over our nation. May He guide our President for the next two months whilst he is still in power and
thereafter and may He guide and lead the
President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, in the herculean
task that lies ahead for him. My prayer is that he brings our nation together, heals the wounds and that
he builds the bridges in terms of religion, ethnicity and region that
he needs to build in order for us to make Nigeria a better place and to ensure
that Nigeria becomes a great country that she is destined to be.
I want to end this message by thanking our colleagues in the press
for always responding to us so quickly and for always
being ready to hear our message and for putting it out there. Also those on the
social media, both friend and foe, we thank you for your efforts.
We thank our foes because they kept us on our toes and we thank our friends
because they encouraged us and gave us hope.
May God grant you all peace and joy and may you live
long and prosper.
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
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