Categories: Politics

‘Embrace sportsmanship’ – Asari Dokubo’s group tells Atiku, Obi

A faction led by former militant Asari Dokubo, on Thursday offered advice to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and his counterpart from the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi, urging them to embrace a spirit of sportsmanship following the Supreme Court’s verdict.

The group, operating under the banner of the Niger Delta People’s Salvation Front, was represented by Mr. Ekiyor-Zua Boma-Daniels, who shared this counsel in an interview shortly after the judgment was delivered in Abuja.

“I will advise them (Atiku and Obi) to learn the heart of a good sportsmanship. If you play a game; politics is a game of numbers, if you play a game and you lose, you go home and learn how to play a better way.

“If you win, you win in victory. So the president has asked everybody to come together in his inaugural speech to move Nigeria forward. Nigeria is our country and the only country we have is Nigeria.

“So whatever happens, let us just come together and make sure we support the president to move Nigeria to a greater height.

“This is the most populous country in Africa. Let us support the president to win because if we support him, and he becomes victorious in his tenure, it is for everybody’s benefit, not only for supporters of Tinubu,” he said.

Members of the group, who dressed in black and red attire, sang different solidarity songs in Tinubu’s support.

The group, with various placards with inscriptions like: “President Tinubu loves the Niger Delta,” “Stop Living in Illusion, President Tinubu is the Choice of the Majority,” “The Office of the Citizen is Supreme,”

“The Citizens have Spoken,” “On Tinubu’s Mandate We the Citizens Stand,” among others, danced around the interception of Shehu Shagari Way and Independence Avenue by the office of the Head of Service, Federal Secretariat.

The Supreme Court affirmed the Sept. 6 decision of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) on Atiku and Obi’s appeals.

The duo and their parties had lodged appeals challenging the ruling of the PEPC that upheld Tinubu’s electoral victory.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Tinubu the winner of the Feb. 25 presidential poll after he defeated Atiku, Obi and 16 others.