The American Government has stressed the need for every politician vying for political post to ensure that the unity of Nigeria remains paramount in their minds.
The Consular General of the United States in Lagos, Jeffrey Hawkins, stated this on Friday when he led some Americans on a courtesy call to the office of the Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose.
Hawkins decried the tension in the polity, saying elections should not be seen as war.
He added that the United States was interested in smooth transition and free and fair elections in Nigeria, urging politicians and their parties to play the game according to the rules and guard against any act capable of heating up the polity.
Fayose, in his response, reiterated that the Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate in the February 14 election, President Goodluck Jonathan, will win the election convincingly.
A statement by Fayose’s Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi, in Ado Ekiti on Saturday, also boasted that the All Progressives Congress will not win any seat in both the state and National Assembly elections in Ekiti State.
Fayose said the state witnessed a peaceful poll last year during the governorship election, expressing confidence that the standard this time around would not be lower.
The governor said Jonathan would defeat the APC’s candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, because Nigeria is save with Jonathan.
Fayose reiterated that Buhari is too old and fragile to be president of Nigeria considering her population.
Fayose said the advert he placed recently was not a death wish but to appeal to the sense of reasoning of Nigerians to prevent the episode of 2010 when the National Assembly had to invoke the Doctrine of Necessity.
He reiterated that he has no apology for sponsoring the advert, adding that it was his own personal opinion and not that of the PDP.
The governor assured Hawkins that the general election in Ekiti State would be violence-free.
He was quoted by Adelusi as saying: “Our party, the Peoples Democratic Party, abhors violence. In the build up to last year’s governorship election in the state, there was no record of members of our party being indicted for violence.
“We conducted ourselves in peaceful manner and the records are there that it is All Progressives Congress members that were involved in violence. A number of them have murder cases hanging on their necks. Some are still wanted by the police and cannot come to the state.
“Since we came to office, we have been able to curtail excesses of those whose main business is war songs.”
Fayose also appealed to political gladiators in the country to put national interests above personal ones.