The former Nigerian vice president and presidential challenger, Atiku Abubakar, has vowed he will abide by Tuesday's court decision on the validity of last April's elections.
Nigeria's Court of Appeal is to rule on a petition against the election of President Umaru Yar'Adua.
In a statement issued by a public relations company in Washington, DC, Atiku said if Nigeria's leaders did not accept the Supreme Court's ruling, "the unfolding tragedy in Kenya" could repeat itself in Nigeria.
He claimed that "the election fraud last April in Nigeria was much worse than Kenya's" but that he and the other major presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, had encouraged people to stay calm and took their case to court, "instead of inflaming our supporters as the Kenyan leaders did."
"It is imperative," Atiku said, "that all of us have confidence that the Court will make the right decision, and I certainly have decided to place my trust there.
"If the Justices declare the election valid, I will accept the result. If they annul the election, the Court and our country will become a model for all of Africa, but we will need solidarity within Nigeria and help from the world to turn the promise of such a decision into a real democracy."
