THE NATION
The question of whether President Bola Tinubu will want to proceed with working with those who challenged his electoral victory will depend on the conduct of those involved in the days to come.
Senator Kabir Marafa, who represents Zamfara Central at the Senate, expressed this position over the weekend when speaking to journalists at the State House after a meeting with President Tinubu.
Senator Marafa, who said his reasons for visiting the president were personal, also challenged opposition leaders, like the presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, to join hands with President Tinubu to move the nation forward.
According to Marafa, there is nothing left for the opposition figures to prove after their outing at the judiciary, especially after the verdict of the Supreme Court on Thursday, which affirmed Tinubu as the winner of the 2023 Presidential Election, besides the fact that at this juncture, Nigeria needs every hand on the deck.
Asked if he thought President Tinubu should form a Government of National Unity (GNU), Marafa said: “I am not Mr. President, but I like the way you put the question ‘do you think’? I know Mr. President is a politician and he knows the game very well. He is the one to decide to say ‘now should I go ahead to form a government of national unity like I wanted to or having seen the behaviour of the participants, I should abandon it’?
“Their behaviour from Thursday, I think, will determine what the President will do. If they take the judgement with open hearts and extend a hand of friendship to Mr. President, I know the President will want to work with everybody. Governance is something that you need all hands on deck to succeed, especially in a complex country like Nigeria.”
On how he should relate to those who challenged his electoral victory at the courts, he said: “My prayer and wish for them is to bury their differences and join hands with Mr. President to move the country forward, especially given the problems we have across the nation. So, we need all hands on deck now. It is over. They have done what they are supposed to have done. The constitution gives them inherent rights to challenge the victory. But with the verdict of the apex court, the battle is over.
“Like the president said, he is going to concentrate on his job without giving anybody any opportunity to distract him. So, on their part, I wish they would join hands with Mr. President to move the country forward.
“When I lost the election, I congratulated the person who defeated me. I also promised that the best thing that I can give the people of Zamfara Central is to cooperate with whoever they choose to be their Senator to move the zone forward. Because they elected me twice and I won convincingly in the two elections.
“So, if now somebody says I lost, I think I should accept the fact that in any game, there are winners and there are losers. Yesterday, I was the winner and today, I lost. I should accept it and move forward, tomorrow is another day.
