By Temitope Oyetomi

I have just had the time today to read through my dear sister's letter to the US President. I read the letter carefully.

When the US State Department congratulated the PEOPLE of Nigeria as well as the President-elect, I wrote a brief post here questioning whether congratulations are in order.

I said congratulations "to the PEOPLE" MAY NOT be in order because more people voted against the President-elect than voted for him. But I also said congratulations MAY be in order "to the candidate" - he is the President-elect after all and no matter what anyone feels about it, he has earned his congratulations. It's only the people that may ask, "Why are you congratulating us?"

I can feel my sister's pain because, as she admitted in the letter to President Biden, she supported one of the candidates i.e. SHE WAS NOT NEUTRAL. I therefore could understand her pain. I have often equated neutrality with objectivity.

Speaking about objectivity, the US State Department was on ground during the election. They witnessed many things they didn't feel cheerful about during the election. But more importantly, they urged anyone who feels aggrieved to "GO TO COURT." I strongly doubt if my sister was in Nigeria on election day but the State Department was in Nigeria.

Specifically, a paragraph from the State Department's congratulatory message reads:

"There are well-established mechanisms in place for the adjudication of electoral disputes, and we encourage any candidate or party seeking to challenge the outcome to pursue redress through those mechanisms."

The simple summary of that is, "If you are not satisfied, please, go to court."

It's taken over a month since the State Department congratulated the PEOPLE of Nigeria and the President-elect for my sister to pen her protest letter. I can understand she must have been very busy or just thinking the matter over and over again.

I note that she mentioned the President-elect's civil forfeiture case of $460,000 in her letter to the US President. While I don't like the negative optics that emanates from the history of that forfieture, I do not see a reason why we should be the ones to teach the US how to feel about it.

It is imperative that we understand that the State Department is a DIPLOMATIC ORGANISATION. There is a limit to which they can meddle in the internal affairs of another country. That organisation witnessed the election - first hand. They were on ground in Nigeria. It is rather intriguing that a Nigerian-born "Americanah" that probably was not on ground during the election is the one trying to teach what those who were on ground during the election should feel and say about the election.

We cannot keep tossing words back and forth over the election. There is wisdom in what the State Department further said, viz that "We call on all parties, candidates, and supporters to refrain from violence or inflammatory rhetoric at this critical time."

Indeed, no matter the PAIN we feel, supporters must refrain from "inflammatory rhetoric" i.e. "fascistic language."

Let's heed the State Department's wise counsel to "go to court" if we feel aggrieved.