The ECOWAS election monitory group gave the advice amid complaints by political parties and their candidates of irregularities concerning the 25 February presidential
The ECOWAS Election Observation Mission (EOM), on Monday, urged candidates to respect the outcome of the just concluded elections.
"We urge the candidates in the presidential election to respect the outcome of the election as will be announced by INEC," head of the mission and former Sierra Leonean President, Ernest Bai Koroma, said.
Some of the presidential candidates through their supporters and parties have raised various concerns about the 25 February presidential election.
There are four front-runners in the election. They are Peter Obi of the Labour Party, Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, and Rabiu Kwakwanso of the New Nigeria People Party (NNPP).
He advised aggrieved parties to resort, if the need arises, to legal channels to resolve any electoral dispute.
Speaking to journalists in Abuja, Mr Koroma, in his preliminary report, asked political parties to encourage their members and followers to desist from the use of inflammatory utterances.
He also urged them to refrain from acts likely to incite violence in the post-electoral phase.
Describing Nigeria as the powerhouse of the West African region, he said Nigerian elections are important for the entire ECOWAS region.
He said, in line with ECOWAS' preventive diplomacy mandate, the Mission would intensify its post-electoral engagement with the candidates, the parties, INEC, and the critical political stakeholders, to facilitate the legal and peaceful resolution of any emerging disputes from the polls.
Nigeria held its seventh democratic National election since 1999 on 25 February.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
Results are still being collated in different parts of the country, although elections were cancelled in some parts of the country as a result of violence, and technical issues, amongst others.
While the collation of results is ongoing, both political parties and their supporters have called out suspected foul plays including manipulation of results.
According to the PREMIUM TIMES election results dashboard the ruling All Progressive Congress is in an early lead as results continue to trickle in.
As of the time of filing this report, three states have announced their results at the National Collation Centre in Abuja.
The ECOWAS EOM deployed 250 election observers to Nigeria to support and monitor the entire electoral process.
The Observers are drawn from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the ECOWAS Member States, Electoral Commissions, Ambassadors accredited to ECOWAS, the ECOWAS Council of the Wise, the ECOWAS Parliament, the ECOWAS Community Court of justice, Civil Society Organisations, the media and election experts from the region.
The mission was deployed to support the consolidation of democratic processes in Nigeria.
