The Initiative for Peace, Forgiveness and Love for One Another (IPFLOA) has called on Nigerian politicians and their supporters to embrace peace, forgiveness and mutual respect before, during and after elections.

Co-Founder of the initiative, Engr. Bright Atoe, made the call in a statement titled “After the Ballot: Let Peace, Forgiveness and Love Become the New Language of Nigerian Politics,” following the August 15, 2026 Osun State governorship election.

Atoe said the developments following the election offered an important lesson in political maturity, noting that Governor Ademola Adeleke’s visit to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and subsequently to Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, demonstrated that political differences should not translate into personal hostility.

Adeleke, who contested the election on the platform of the Accord Party, defeated the All Progressives Congress candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, by 66,252 votes, polling 511,067 votes against Oyebamiji’s 444,815 votes.

According to Atoe, Adeleke’s post-election engagements with political figures across party lines represented “a Nigeria we must deliberately choose to build.”

He argued that Nigerian politics had for too long been conducted as warfare, with political opponents portrayed as enemies and electoral disagreements allowed to linger long after elections.

“Why should political disagreement make respect impossible? Why should yesterday’s opponent automatically become today’s enemy?” he asked.

Atoe maintained that political differences should end at the polling booth, while relationships and the nation’s collective interest should endure beyond elections.

“I can disagree with your politics and still respect you. I can oppose your candidate and still regard you as a fellow Nigerian whose dignity is not negotiable,” he said.

He described the ability of political actors to compete vigorously and subsequently work together as a demonstration of political maturity rather than hypocrisy.

The IPFLOA co-founder said the organisation was founded on the conviction that Nigeria could not achieve sustainable peace and prosperity without learning to live peacefully with one another.

He said the initiative seeks to become a leading voice and trusted partner in peacebuilding by facilitating dialogue and peace accords whenever political, ethnic, communal or other divisions threaten peaceful coexistence.

Atoe said its message was directed at all political actors, including the Presidency, governors, ministers, legislators, party leaders, former leaders, political aspirants, candidates and citizens.

He urged politicians to compete without hatred, disagree without destroying one another, campaign without dehumanising opponents, win without humiliating losers and accept defeat without turning disappointment into lasting bitterness.

“Politics is temporary. Relationships endure. Parties evolve. Governments change. Candidates come and go. The Nigerian people remain,” he said.

The call comes as political parties and stakeholders begin positioning themselves ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Atoe warned that winning an election should not be measured solely by the number of votes secured, arguing that political victory could become meaningless if it left society deeply divided.

“A politician can win an election and inherit a bitterly divided society. A party can secure a majority and still preside over a fractured community,” he said.

He therefore called for a national peace partnership involving political parties, government officials, traditional institutions, religious leaders, civil society organisations, young Nigerians and other stakeholders.

Atoe stressed that the initiative was not asking Nigerians to abandon their political convictions or opposition parties to stop holding governments accountable.

Rather, he said, the objective was to promote democratic competition without hatred and encourage reconciliation after elections.

He noted that Adeleke’s meetings with Tinubu and Wike after the Osun election demonstrated that political actors from different platforms could engage constructively.

Adeleke had visited Tinubu at the Presidential Villa after his re-election and thanked the President for what he described as allowing a free and fair electoral process. He later visited Wike in Abuja.

Atoe urged Nigerians to take the message of peace into their communities, political parties, places of worship, schools and campaign grounds, stressing that the relationships among citizens must survive the electoral cycle.

He said the posters, campaign songs, rallies and political offices would eventually disappear, but Nigerians would remain together as citizens of one country.

He concluded with an appeal for Nigerians to pursue electoral victory without losing their fellow citizens to hatred and division.

“Can we win the election without losing one another? I believe we can. I believe we must. And I believe the time to begin is now,” Atoe said.

He urged Nigerians to allow “peace and love to guide the ballot, forgiveness to heal the divide and love for one another to build the Nigeria we all deserve.”