Buhari’s victory, moral one for all Nigerians – APC Senate caucus

The caucus of the All Progressives Congress in the Senate has described the victory scored by General Muhammadu Buhari, the APC presidential candidate in the March 28 presidential election, as not only well-deserved and historic, but a moral one for every Nigerian, notwithstanding the ethnic or party affiliation.

In a release signed by its spokesperson, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, the APC caucus, while congratulating the winner, who has emerged as the fourth president of the nation’s Fourth Republic, which began in 1999, also showered encomiums on President Goodluck Jonathan for exhibiting the spirit of sportsmanship by conceding an early defeat without which there could have been crisis.

According to Senator Ojudu, despite the high emotions and deep seethed rivalry, which characterized the campaigns preceding the election, both General Buhari and President Jonathan have been magnanimous and humble in their claim of victory and concession of defeat, adding: “They have thus shown that they value the future of Nigeria more than their personal ambitions and the whole world will forever honour them for this singular act.

“There had been this fear that President Jonathan might not want to concede defeat, but he has followed the maxim that when you lose, lose with dignity, when you win, win with dignity too. This concession has therefore forced the anticipated tension down dramatically, and the president would remain a hero of democracy in the league of General Olusegun Obasanjo and General Abdusalami Abubakar in the heart of all Nigerians.

“Once again, we Nigerians have showed the world that we have a peculiar way of overcoming our challenges as a people and that no any form of rivalry can snap the cord of oneness binding us together. Our two political leaders have displayed a high sense of maturity in handling their political differences notwithstanding how hot it seemed.”

The APC caucus said it observed that the APC presidential candidate, who is now the President-elect, must have borrowed the words of a fellow General, George S. Parton, that it was not just enough to fight, but the spirit which one has brought to the fight should decide the issue and that it is morale that would eventually win the victory.

Ojudu said while the normal thing was for APC as the victorious party to grandstand with the victory it recorded at the election, the APC caucus in the Upper Chamber is of the belief that General Buhari and his running mate and vice-president-elect, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, are both known masters of positive emotions and they would be magnanimous in victory by letting every Nigerian have a sense of pride in the smooth sail of the nation’s ship.

The APC caucus thus advised both the outgoing president and the incoming to commence with immediate effect the process of healing among their party faithful as well as setting up a committee that will ensure a smooth transition.