Popular lawyer and former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Dr Olisa Agbakoba, has advised defeated candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, to accept the outcome of the election.
He made the plea in a statement, hours after Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, declared President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the poll.
Agbakoba, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), said that going to Election Petition Tribunal was not the right decision.
He explained that the voting pattern for the poll showed that ethnicity played a significant role in the exercise.
He said he understood the grievance of the opposition party but a lot needed to be done in reforming the nation’s politics and the electoral process.
He, however, challenged Atiku not to lose sight of the legacy in his front and take up the mantle of a statesman.
Agbakoba further stressed the need to address the voting pattern in the country, saying the same thing might repeat itself in the 2023 general elections.