The government of President Bola Tinubu has vowed to collaborate with the presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar and the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi.
Mohammed Idris, Minister of Information and National Orientation, declared this on Friday night, following the Supreme Court’s decision to confirm Tinubu as the election winner.
The Supreme Court upheld the Presidential Election Petitions Court’s decision of on September 6 on Thursday.
The petitions brought by Atiku and Obi against Tinubu were dismissed by a seven-member Supreme Court bench chaired by Justice Inyang Okoro.
In an interview with Punch, the minister stated that the President is still willing to cooperate with the opposition.
Idris when asked if Tinubu would be ready to work with both Atiku and Obi, said, “Since the President won this election, he has always invited people to come and join him for the good of Nigeria. Mr President is not the kind of person to say ‘I have become president, everybody should go away’. No. They (Atiku and Obi) are the ones that have not heeded that call.
“Anytime any of them is willing to join hands with the President, why not? The President is open and willing to accommodate everybody, irrespective of religious, social and political affiliation, so that we can all join hands for Nigeria to go forward.”
Idris observed that the President had stated unequivocally that he will be a President for all Nigerians, regardless of geography, ethnicity, political party, or religious affiliation.
He stated further, “The courts have spoken and the President and the governing party, the All Progressives Congress, have welcomed this judicial victory as pronounced. We thank the judiciary for the painstaking work that they have done and for rising to the occasion in fulfilment of their constitutional mandate as the final arbiters of electoral proceedings in the country.
“Now that the legal contest regarding the outcome of the presidential election is now behind us, it is time for all of us to come together and move forward, into a season of governing that is without distraction.
“These are indeed challenging economic times, not just for Nigeria, but also for many countries around the world, and all hands must be on deck to tackle the challenges confronting us.