Former Federal Commissioner for Information and South South leader, Chief Edwin Clark yesterday wrote the President- elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, retd, saying that he would have his full support if he( Buhari) at all times, would uphold the dignity of Nigeria and those things that bind the country together.
In a statement titled, letter of Congratulations and made available to Journalists in Abuja urged General Buhari to ensure that as Nigerians, we must build a nation where all the citizens are equal irrespective of religion or ethnic nationality where every person can aspire to the highest office in Nigeria no matter where such a Nigerian hails from.
Clark said, “In the early hours of Wednesday 1st April, 2015, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, pronounced you elected as the President-Elect of the Federal Republic of Nigeria following the conclusion of the compilation of the results of the 2015 Presidential Elections. Subsequently you were presented with the Certificate of Return as President-Elect, as stipulated by the Electoral Act 2010.
“I am therefore pleased to join our other compatriots in this country and friends from the international community to convey my words of congratulations to you and your Party, the All Progressives Congress. I note that the election was keenly contested but the outcome has been determined by INEC, in the exercise of its statutory duties. We must therefore move forward in the interest of peace, unity and progress of our country. I have noted that this is equally the position which you so well stated during your acceptance speech at the collection of your Certificate of Return.
“I am glad that the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, who was so gracious to beat the gun in congratulating you, both by a historic telephone call and a national broadcast, underlined the need for the spirit of placing our national interest above individual or group ambition. This was an uncommon display of purposeful leadership and patriotism which I believe sets a propitious cue for the new government.
“This act of statesmanship and honesty of purpose no doubt went a long way to disappoint our detractors both within and outside our country who thought that the result of the elections will not be accepted by any of the two major contestants and thereby create a chaotic situation in the country and satisfying those prophets of doom who felt there will be no more Nigeria after the 2015 General elections.
“Finally, Your Excellency, I wish to repeat here part of what I said in my open letter to my Northern brothers which was addressed to Alhaji Maitama Sule, that citizenship of any nation must be based on equality and respect for one another and not based on segregation of first class and second class citizens. We the minorities of the South-South have supported and worked with every government in Nigeria, waited for over 50 years before it pleased the Almighty God to make one of us the ruler of this country. We remain grateful for that and no one has faulted the majority ethnic group for ruling over the years. This is the principle I have always stood for and supported. But some people misunderstood me.
“Once again, I congratulate you and reassure you that as you get set to commence the process of peaceful transition and government, you will have my full support, as a man who strongly believes in the unity of Nigeria, just as I supported our most respected late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and his successor President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as long as you will at all times uphold the dignity of Nigeria and those things that bind us together as one united country, remembering that part of our old National Anthem which says “Though tribe and tongue may differ, in brotherhood we stand.” This was exactly what the late Nelson Mandela of South Africa stood for, and the late Martin Luther King, Jnr. of the United States of America fought and died for. President Barrack Hussein Obama of the United States of America, who is a beneficiary of these struggles, should always remember all these when dealing with affairs of the African continent.
“Let us together build a nation where all its citizens are equal irrespective of religion or ethnic nationality, where every person can aspire to the highest office in Nigeria, no matter where he/she comes from. May the Almighty God bless all of us, and bless our beloved country, Nigeria.”
