Elections not won by force, protests, Tinubu supporters tell opposition leaders

Supporters of the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, have told opposition parties and their candidates in the February 25 polls to stop “overheating the polity”, stressing that elections are not won through force, protests or intimidation.

Addressing a press conference on Wednesday in Abuja, Convener of Youth Alliance for Tinubu 2023, Bello Bala Shagari, cautioned opposition leaders against truncating the country’s democracy.

The presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar and Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi have rejected Tinubu’s emergence as winner of the February 25 polls and vowed to challenge it in court. PDP leaders had also protested to the INEC headquarters in Abuja, over the outcome of the polls.

But Shagari said, “Election is won by those who have worked to earn the votes of the people not by intimidation or protests. No political party had mobilised people in the nooks and crannies of Nigeria like the APC.

“It is very evident that the elections held on 25th February 2023 was free, fair and credible, and arguably one the best held in Nigeria. For instance, the winner of the election H.E Bola Ahmed Tinubu has lost his own hometown and stronghold of Lagos.

“Had this election not been free, fair and credible H.E Bola Ahmed Tinubu wouldn’t have lost Lagos to anyone or even lose President Buhari’s Katsina to PDP.”