The presidential ambition of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, General Muhammadu Buhari, received a boost on Thursday as the Yoruba in the United States of America declared support for him.
They also urged President Goodluck Jonathan to hand over to Buhari if he loses the election on Saturday.
The group also stressed the need for peaceful general elections for Nigeria to remain an indivisible entity after the polls.
Operating under the auspices of the Oodua Nation, the group maintained that only peaceful polls could save Nigeria from the disintegration threatening the country.
In an electronic mail signed by its Secretary General, Bayo Oluwasanmi, and made available to journalists in Ado Ekiti on Thursday, the group said it would be a great disservice to the country if Jonathan failed to adhere strictly to the peace accord signed by all presidential candidates in Abuja.
It, however, urged voters to set aside unnecessary emotions and ethno-religious sentiment in deciding their collective destiny during the poll, for Nigeria to have a leader that would deliver the people from the myriad of crises militating against it.
The statement said: “President Jonathan must hand-over power to Gen Buhari if he loses, because that is the beauty of democracy. Nigerians gave him support in 2011 to conquer Buhari and he has been ruling in the last four years. So if our people decided to shift their preference for another person this time, I think that should not generate crisis.
“We expect President Jonathan to win this election by proving to Nigerians in the last four years that he has the capacity to govern and govern well.
“We thought he would have shown that he had better ways of solving issues like abduction of over 200 Chibok school girls by Boko Haram, youths unemployed, collapsed infrastructure, stunted economy, insecurity, violence, intimidation, erosion of human and
civil rights, complete takeover of our democratic institutions by corruption, impoverishment, and hopeless, to arrest the hearts of the citizenry.
“For PDP to win easily, it would have disqualified Mr. Jonathan automatically from being its flag bearer in the 2015 presidential election. It is therefore instructive to say that this year’s battle is between a deeply flawed incumbent president and a highly respected anti-corruption candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari.
“We do not support a candidate who approved the military for election rigging. We do not support a candidate who appoints thieves and career criminals as ministers and advisers. We do not support a candidate who has refused to move Nigeria forward in the past six years.
“To succeed, however, Nigeria needs a president capable of admitting to mistakes and of learning from them. Mr. Jonathan has steadfastly refused to admit to anything. Under him corruption is not stealing, corruption in Nigeria is over exaggerated and many other unpardonable mistakes he has made.”
The pan-yoruba group advised the electorate to be conscious of the candidate that has the capacity to deal decisively with Boko Haram and instill discipline in economic policy, social welfare, regular electricity and water supply, health care delivery and robust infrastructure that would improve the lives of already impoverished Nigerian citizens.
