Femi Fani-Kayode Releases StatementOn The Presidential Election

Text of a press conference addressed by Chief Femi Fani- Kayode, Director Media and Publicity Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Campaign Organisation on

April 1, 2015.

Ladies and gentlemen of the media,

We have come here today to
express our gratitude to the
Nigerian people for the
overwhelming support that we
received over the last few weeks
when it comes to the issue of the
Presidential election.

We fought a virile, strong,
aggressive and very effective
campaign on behalf of our
candidate, President Goodluck
Jonathan and we put the case to the
Nigerian people as to why we
believe that he ought to have been
elected as President for a second
term.
We are very proud of the efforts of
our President and of our party and
we are also very proud of the
efforts of every single one of those
who participated in the
Presidential Campaign
Organisation.

As a Directorate we could not have
asked for anything more in terms
of support and encouragement
from our colleagues and comrades
within the party and the Campaign
Organisation.

I am personally very proud of my
team, every single one of them; my
Assistant Directors, my officers, my
advisory team and every single one
of those that joined hands to help
us to state our case and to sell our
candidate to the Nigerian people.
It has however come to a point that
we must tell the world and the
Nigerian people about how we feel
about the outcome of the election.
What we will say here today is
basically to reiterate and to reflect
the words of our leader and
President, President Goodluck
Jonathan. We start by saying that
we commend and we congratulate
General Muammadu Buhari for
winning this election.

We also wish to commend our
President, President Goodluck
Jonathan, for having the courage to
concede that he has lost the election
at the earliest moment and also for
being able to stand up and rise
above party politics and being able
to speak like a statesman.

We therefore urge the Nigerian
people and our teeming supporters
to stand firm and continue to
support the democratic process and
continue to agitate for a better
Nigeria.

We urge them to continue to
support our party the PDP as best
as they can even though we lost this
election. We ask them to co-operate
with the incoming government and
to remember that we are first and
foremost Nigerians before anything
else.

On the day of the election when I
went to vote at Ile-Ife, I held a
press conference in which I told the
people that more than anything else
that we should try our very best to
keep the peace in this country and
to keep the country moving
forward.

I also reminded them that in every
election there will always be a
winner and a loser. It is a mark of
our humanity and it is also
symptomatic of the type of people
that we are and who we are that
when the time comes we can say
we fought a good fight but we lost.
And having lost, it does not mean
that it is the end to the world, it just
means that we need to re-group, re-
organise ourselves and begin the
process all over again because
another elections will come in a
few years time. And that is where
we are today.

We have conceded that we have
lost. We acknowledge the fact that
we fought a good fight. We do not
have any fears about the future.
We did the right thing during the
campaign.

We have no regrets about our
candidate or the way in which we
conducted our campaign and we
will live to fight another day
Finally let me commend all our
colleagues on the other side for also
standing up for what they believed
in.

There was absolutely nothing
personal as regards this Directorate
or myself. I had nothing personal
against anybody.

I was simply doing my job for
which I have no regrets and I wish
them well and I sincerely hope that
they will take Nigeria to a level that
we can all be proud of.

May God grant each and everyone
of us peace. May He watch over our
nation. May He guide our President
for the next two months whilst he is
still in power and thereafter and
may He guide and lead the
President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, in the
herculean task that lies ahead for
him.

My prayer is that he brings our
nation together, heals the wounds
and that he builds the bridges in
terms of religion, ethnicity and
region that he needs to build in
order for us to make Nigeria a
better place and to ensure that
Nigeria becomes a great country
that she is destined to be.

I want to end this message by
thanking our colleagues in the
press for always responding to us
so quickly and for always being
ready to hear our message and for
putting it out there.
Also those on the social media, both
friend and foe, we thank you for
your efforts.

We thank our foes because they
kept us on our toes and we thank
our friends because they
encouraged us and gave us hope.
May God grant you all peace and
joy and may you live long and
prosper.

God bless the Federal Republic of
Nigeria.