The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council has enjoined the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart, Peter Obi, to concede defeat to their challenger on the platform of the APC, Bola Tinubu.

The APC Presidential Campaign Council urged Atiku and Obi to congratulate Tinubu, saying the February 25 presidential election has “already been won by our candidate”.

The council stressed that the just concluded presidential and National Assembly elections were credible and transparent, noting that it was wrong to say otherwise with the dramas that characterised the 2023 general election.

The Special Adviser, Media, Public Affairs and Strategic Communications of APC Presidential Campaign Council, Dele Alake, said this at a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday.

Alake said: “We call on Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi to emulate former President Goodluck Jonathan by conceding defeat.

“This election has already been won by our candidate, according to the results declared at the collation centres in the state.

“In 2015, President Jonathan did not wait for INEC to finish collation before he called President Muhammadu Buhari and congratulated him in the true spirit of democracy and sportsmanship.

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“We urge Atiku Abubakar and Obi to follow the same path of honour, instead of attempting to heat the polity via the reckless statements by surrogates.”

He added: “It is our submission that the election conducted nationwide on Saturday was credible and transparent.

“Our position has been attested to by the international observers such as the Commonwealth, ECOWAS, European Union and African Union observer missions who adjudged the election as peaceful, free and fair whilst they identified areas of logistical improvements INEC should take into consideration in future elections.

“As you are well aware, the election was replete with drama. We saw the APC presidential candidate, party chairman and PCC director-general, losing their home states to Labour Party. Our DG also lost his bid to the Senate.

“We have also seen how Governor Samuel Ortom, a Labour Party backer lost his state of Benue to the APC. He also lost his bid to the Senate to the APC candidate. The Benue APC Tsunami was triggered by our popular governorship candidate, Father Hyacinth Alia and the party leader, George Akume. In Taraba, we have also witnessed how Governor Darius Ishaku lost his senatorial election.

“With all these hills and valleys and dramas that characterised the election, how can anyone claim the election was rigged or not transparent.”

Alake further enjoined the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to speed up the announcement of the election results to quickly diffuse the current atmosphere of anxiety in the country.

The spokesman of the APC campaign council equally admonished Nigerians and the party’s supporters across the country to remain calm and shun violence.

The Star