Why Tinubu Will Work With Atiku, Obi – Minister

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris has disclosed that President Bola Tinubu-led government will work with the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar and his counterpart in the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi.

Idris stated this on Friday night after the Supreme Court judgment affirmed Tinubu as the winner of the election.

Recall that the apex court on Thursday upheld the September 6 ruling of the Presidential Election Petitions Court.

The seven-man panel of the Supreme Court led by Justice Inyang Okoro, dismissed the petitions filed by Atiku and Obi against Tinubu.

The minister in an interview with Punch, said the President remained open to work 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 noted that the President had made it clear that he would be a President for all Nigerians, irrespective of their regional, ethnic, partisan or religious affiliations.

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.”