Director Media and Publicity Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Campaign
Organisation on April 1, 2015. Read below...
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 fought a virile, strong, aggressive and very effective campaign on
behalf of our candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan and we put the
case to the Nigerian people as to why we believe that he ought to have
been elected as President for a second term.
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.
--LIB
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