Samuel Awoyinfa, Abeokuta
A former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has called for caution over the crisis which has engulfed Kenya concerning the preliminary results of the presidential election in the East African country.
This was contained in a statement issued on his behalf by his media aide, Kehinde Akinyemi, in Abeokuta on Thursday, a copy of which was made available to our correspondent.
He said the world and friends of the East African country were anxiously awaiting the final outcome of the presidential election that was held on Tuesday.
Obasanjo who congratulated the people of Kenya over what he described as the “relative peace” that attended the campaign and preparation for the just-concluded elections, said it would not be too good to have a litigation later in the International Criminal Court over the crisis.
He, however, appealed for peace over the allegation by the opposition leader, Raila Odinga, of hacking into the website of the country’s electoral body, noting that it was a technical issue that should be left to a non-partisan committee to look into.
The statement read in part, “The world is waiting for the final declaration of the election and the reactions.
Allegations of hacking into the electoral system have been made. This, of course, as a technical issue must be thoroughly investigated by a non-partisan Committee of experts, no matter what the final declaration of the election result is.
“The world is also waiting anxiously to see that peace continues to prevail after the formal declaration of the election result.
” Those of us who are friends of Kenya and who believe that peaceful election in Kenya, like in any other African country, is necessary to stabilise democracy in Africa and lay the foundation for strong economic development, unity and progress are also anxious.
“It will not be in the interest of anybody in Kenya to have to resort to International Criminal Court again. We appeal for peace, non-violence and dialogue as the eyes of the world are on Kenya and we can’t do better than to show that electorally, Kenya has come of age.”
Media reports indicated that at least five people have been killed in post-election violence as at Thursday after Odinga claimed “massive” fraud in Tuesday’s vote.
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