By; AMOS TAUNA, Kaduna
The Conference of Autochthonous Ethnic Nationalities Communities Development Association (CONAECDA), has said that it looks forward to a government that will ignite hope, inclusiveness, justice and faith in God and in the leaders and nation.
Chairman of the group, Prof. Aboi Madaki in a statement, called on the president-elect and all his advisers to let the healing process started in his acceptance speech, continue in his appointments and policies.
CONAECDA also noted that the obvious discrepancies in the conduct of the elections and expectedly, the conduct and results of the elections gave rise to serious disputes arising therefrom, adding that many Nigerians doubt the veracity of the result of the 2023 Presidential election, but would rather allow justice to take its course than to allow violence and lawlessness, while some dejectedly “accepted” the outcome of the election and resigned to fate.
The Ethnic Nationalities of Central Nigeria and the Middle Belt strongly urged the authorities to reciprocate the good conduct of Nigerians by ensuring that the election disputes are honestly and openly addressed by the relevant institutions, especially INEC and the Law Courts.
The statement further lamented that regional politics played a major part in the 2023 elections, saying that each of the three front-runner candidates won his Geopolitical Zone of origin.
It added that youth issues, religion, economic factors, insecurity, corruption and many more influenced the general elections, stressing that it is within this context that for the first time in Nigeria, a “Minority Government” is likely to emerge in Nigeria.
It noted that the outcome of the 2023 elections as declared by INEC reflects the level of disaffection Nigerians have towards the outgoing government, saying that the result of the election shows that the Presidency was won with just 37% of the total votes cast which should be a cause of concern for those coming in to form a new government because they are not a party elected by popular support.
CONAECDA-GPA strongly believes that those who have any form of grievances with the election results should seek justice and looked forward to INEC’s prosecution of those responsible for the anomalies that affected the live transmission of data from the BVAS and those who may have tempered with any result or carried out any form of electoral offences as stipulated by the Electoral Act.
The statement noted that it is time for the President-Elect to redeem himself, saying that many Nigerians have very high respect for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and wished he had considered religious diversity in his ticket.
CONAECDA alleged that Bola Ahmed Tinubu was not the preferred candidate by the power brokers and as the President-elect, he should to do things differently and to start strategically by showing the world that he is out to give hope as he promised.
It congratulated Nigerians for the peaceful conduct of the Presidential and National Assembly elections that took place on 25th February, 2023, lamented although majority of Nigerians are not satisfied with the outcome of the elections, though winners have emerged, and Nigeria now has a President-elect, as well as Senators and Members-elect of the House of Representatives.
