Keyamo made the remarks in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja, while reacting to the outcome of the Feb. 23 Presidential and National Assembly elections.

NAN reports that Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, early on Wednesday, declared President Buhari as the winner of the election.

Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) polled 15,191, 847 votes to defeat his closest rival, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who polled 11,255, 978.

Buhari won in 19 states while Abubakar won in 17 states.

Keyamo said: ”This is our country. They are patriots also and fought a good fight. We have no other country and they must not let personal ambition override national interest.

“They pushed us to our limits and we are grateful to them.

“We have heard the reports of international, continental observers; those who were neutral in the process. We’ve heard all their reports and they said the process was peaceful, free and fair.

“Look at the trend of the figures that came in, they were the same type of figures the president earned in 2015, that is the 15 million votes. So, if you said 2015 was free and fair, why would you not adjudge this free and fair also,” he said.

He noted that the country was clearly divided as the results of the 2015 and 2019 have shown, adding that the country must remain united against all odds.

“We want this country to be united. If you look at the electoral map of 2015 and that of 2019, no matter how happy you are, you will still be sad that the country is clearly divided.

“For those who are fond of hate speeches who caused this division, I urge them to rethink their ways.

“We see them every time and for the president you can see that he has been despised by certain sections of people who feel that they have a right to rule this country.

“He has not gotten endorsements from some of these power blocs in the military, religious groups and certain sections of the bourgeoisie media.

“They hate him, but today the poor masses of the country should be happy that he is a man of his own and does not have to give in to any interest in order to serve the Nigerian people.

“This is the first president in the history Nigeria since 1960 who has gone directly to the masses to get their endorsement.

“He did not have to go through the elite and some power blocs to get the endorsement of the masses.

“So, the Nigerian people should be happy that they have a president who is their own and who can serve them directly,” he said.

On the rejection of the election outcome by the opposition and their stand to go to court, Keyamo said APC’s legal team was prepared to engage them at every level.

He however appealed to APC supporters to be magnanimous in victory, adding that they must apply caution while celebrating.

“I think the opposition are just bellyaching and we have a rich collection of legal minds on our side who are prepared to engage them at every level.

“We want to tell our supporters not to taunt them, to keep inviting them as Nigerians to join hands to build the country together.

“We want to be magnanimous in victory. Our supporters are happy, partying and jubilating across the country and we also want to urge them not to put themselves in harms way.

“They must apply caution as they celebrate. Be calm about this while they jubilate and celebrate in a peaceful way so that they don’t put their lives and the lives of others in danger,” Keyamo said.