#2023Elections: Presidential Candidate Accepts Defeat, Advises Atiku, Obi To Congratulate Tinubu

As the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, winds down collation of the 2023 presidential and national assembly election, the presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Adewole Adebayo, has conceded defeat to the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu.

Adebayo, in a tweet via his verified Twitter handle on Tuesday afternoon, also advised the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP), Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi respectively, to also accept defeat and congratulate Mr Tinubu.

In a telephone interview with PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Adewole, who confirmed the authenticity of the tweet, said his action and appeal to his counterparts in the other parties became necessary following “the path they now toe which could lead Nigeria to a serious crisis.”

Adewole’s message

At exactly 3:46p.m on Tuesday, Mr Adebayo shared his tweet, saying: “Chinua Achebe was right that leadership is the problem of Nigeria. Where are the true leaders? Same drama every election year is not progress. @GEJonathan saved us in 2015. It is now time for @atiku and @PeterObi to show that they love Nigeria. Time to call @officialABAT is now.

“I have more grievances than all the presidential candidates combined. I’m least satisfied with the results. I am dissatisfied with the choice of the electorate. It is the prerogative of the people to make unwise choices but the choice is clear. We can be more honest all around.”

According to Mr Adebayo, the message became necessary due to the actions of both the Labour Party and the PDP. He said the two opposition political parties are playing into the hands of the enemies of Nigeria.

He said: “What are we doing all this drama for? Why did we then criticise Trump? All the troubles Trump made, all the damage he caused, he still had to leave. So the process is usually like that.

“So I am just appealing. I’m not saying people cannot complain, but if this country would make any progress, this result is clear enough. Even though I am not happy with it, I have accepted the verdict for the sake of this country.”

Mr Adebayo said he would never have recommended the ruling APC to any Nigerian to be voted for, but he said he agreed that it was the choice made by the electorate. “We all know that elections have consequences and people should be left to bear the consequences of their decision.”

“Normally if everybody was sitting at the collation centre quietly, and were waiting for the result to be announced, and choose to head to court afterwards, there wouldn’t have been any need for this message. But these press conferences that these two parties are organising and the way they are rallying the public, misrepresenting their grievances, which is just a technical matter, is the reason I am speaking out,” he added.

“So I would have ordinarily waited for the result to be announced and if my party decided to approach the court I wouldn’t stop them.”

Commendation for ex-President GEJ

The presidential candidate also commended former President Goodluck Jonathan for what he described as his statesmanly conduct in 2015.

He said Mr Jonathan’s congratulatory call to the then President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, had saved Nigeria from a serious crisis.

“The former President knew that what Mr Orubebe was doing at the collation centre could be followed by an unprecedented level of violence and public disturbance, and so he made the call and became a hero. That is what I expect these two opposition leaders to do in this circumstance as well,” he added.

As of Tuesday evening, data from the PREMIUM TIMES election dashboard shows that Mr Tinubu is leading with more than eight million votes, followed by the candidate of the People Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and Mr Obi with 6,515,884 and 5,765,371 respectively. The figures are based on the results declared across 33 of the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Nigerians had trooped out en masse on Saturday to elect their preferred candidates during the presidential and national assembly election which was conducted across 774 local government areas in 36 states of the federation and the FCT.