By Fidelis Mac-Leva, Abbas Jimoh, Saawua Terzungwe & Baba Martin
Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has rejected the outcome of last Saturday’s polls and vowed to challenge the result in court.
He said the election was the worst since the return of democracy in Nigeria, stressing that he will fight in court to deepen Nigerian democracy by correcting the wrongs allegedly orchestrated by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Atiku also advised his Labour Party (LP) counterpart, Peter Obi, to abandon plans of approaching courts to challenge the 2023 presidential election result since the votes he got in the exercise were less and did not meet the provisions stated in the country’s constitution.
He said rather than go ahead with his plan of approaching the court to challenge the result, the former governor of Anambra State should team up with him (Atiku), who came second and had votes that met the stipulated requirements, to reclaim the alleged stolen mandate from the APC.
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This is even as Obi has claimed victory in the presidential election and said he would prove that.
They spoke at separate press conferences in Abuja, yesterday, at which they reacted to the declaration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu by INEC as president-elect on the platform of APC.
INEC maintained that the election was free, fair and in line with the Electoral Act 2022.
What Atiku said
Addressing journalists at the Shehu Musa Yar`Adua Centre, Atiku said, “The dreams and aspirations of Nigerians who braced all the challenges to go and cast their votes were shattered by the conduct of the INEC, which failed to live up to expectations. The weekend election was neither free nor fair.
“Preliminary assessments indicate that it is the worst conducted elections since the return to democratic rule. The manipulation and fraud that attended this election were unprecedented in the history of our nation.
“I can still not understand why the electoral umpire was in such a hurry to conclude collation and announcement of the result, given the number of complaints of irregularities, of bypassing of the BVAS, failure of uploading to the IREV, and unprecedented cancellations and disenfranchisement of millions of voters in breach of the Electoral Act and the commission’s own guidelines. It was indeed a rape of democracy.”
Atiku also said having consulted with party leaders and Nigerians from different walks of life, he had come to the conclusion that the processes and outcome of the presidential and National Assembly polls were grossly flawed in every material particular, and must be challenged.
“This has been attested to by both local and international observers. I want to believe that this was not the legacy that President Muhammadu Buhari had promised. For President Buhari, it is not too late to make amends for the good of our country and future generations and indeed to assure his legacy.
“This battle to right the wrongs of last Saturday is not about me. It is a continuation of my battles to deepen democracy and for a better life for our people. It is about the future of Nigerian youths,” Atiku further stated.
While calling on all men and women of goodwill to join hands with them “in the vanguard to defend the constitution from the brigandage of anti-democratic forces”, Atiku added that, “It is my hope that the judiciary will redeem itself this time around and rise to the society’s expectations as the last hope.”
In a related development, the PDP yesterday rejected the declaration of Tinubu as president-elect and asked INEC to withdraw the certificate of return issued to him.
Debo Ologunagba, National Publicity Secretary of the party said: “The PDP holds that its presidential candidate clearly won the February 25, 2023 election, having evidently scored the majority of lawful votes cast by Nigerians at the polling units.
“Sadly, the election was marred by deliberate malpractices, including the non-use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and INEC’s refusal to transmit directly the results from polling units to its server/website in flagrant violation of Section 60 (4)(b) of the Electoral Act 2022.
“Consequently, our party and its presidential candidate have commenced action for legal redress to reclaim our victory in the 2023 presidential election.”
I’ll go to court
On his part, Obi insisted that he won last Saturday’s presidential election and was ready to prove it.
At a press conference in Abuja, Obi described the election as “a daylight robbery” and that he would use all legitimate means, including the courts, to reclaim the mandate.
He berated INEC for allegedly conducting “the worst elections in Nigeria’s history”, which he said fell below the minimum standard, adding that he believed in the judiciary to do justice.
“We won the election and will explore all legal action to reclaim our candidate. I have been asked to go to the court and we will prove how we won the election,” Obi said.
While asking his supporters to remain calm and peaceful, he said: “Elections have been conducted and results announced as programmed. It is a clear deviation from electoral rules and guidelines as we were promised. This election as you know did not meet the minimum standard expected of a free, transparent, credible, fair election. It would go down as one of the most controversial elections ever conducted in Nigeria.”
Don’t mislead Nigerians, APC tells Atiku, Obi
The APC yesterday responded to the claims made by Atiku and Obi over the INEC declaration of its candidate as the winner in last Saturday’s election,
Festus Keyamo, the Director of Public Affairs and chief spokesman, Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council, said Atiku should be thankful that he even exceeded expectations in the elections by coming second.
“With all the distractions and fractured party with which he campaigned, he must have sensed beforehand that he was headed for a humiliating defeat that should have put him a distant third or fourth in the elections.
“His performance was therefore the best he could achieve.”
Keyamo said Atiku breached the zoning principle within his own party by insisting on running for president when that was clearly against the mood of the nation.
“Even after emerging as a candidate, the PDP itself continued to rub insult on the faces of southern leaders in the party by insisting on keeping the position of national chairman in the North.
“This obviously led to the rebellion of the G5 governors and their subsequent sabotage of the PDP before the polls and at the polls by campaigning against Atiku’s candidature. His failure to unite his party and manage this post-primaries fallout was his eventual undoing.”
Bayo Onanuga, the director, media and publicity of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, said Obi’s decision to seek redress in court as an aggrieved party was welcome.
Onanuga, however, said contrary to Obi’s claim, the election in contention was one of the most transparent and peaceful in the history of Nigeria.
“It is because the process was credible that made it possible for Obi to record the over six million votes he got contrary to pre-election forecasts.
“The Labour Party and Obi surprised bookmakers by winning in Lagos, Nasarawa, Plateau, Delta and Edo where there are sitting governors of either APC or the Peoples Democratic Party. Those governors have entrenched political machinery. That Obi won attests to the credibility of the election process,” he said.
US urges INEC to address BVAS concerns before gov’ship poll
The United States has called on INEC to address technical hitches reportedly associated with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) before the governorship and state assembly elections on March 11.
Ned Price, spokesman for the Department of State, in a statement, said Nigerians were clearly within their rights to have such concerns and should have high expectations for their electoral processes in the just-concluded presidential poll.
“We join other international observers in urging INEC to improve in the areas that need the most attention ahead of the March 11 elections.
“We understand that many Nigerians and some of the parties have expressed frustration about the manner in which the process was conducted. They have also expressed frustration about the shortcomings of technical elements that were used for the first time in a presidential election cycle,’’ he said.
Price, however, advised the aggrieved presidential candidates and parties to use legal means to address their grievances and not resort to violence on inflammatory remarks.
“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.
“We call on all parties, candidates, and supporters to refrain from violence or inflammatory rhetoric at this critical time,” he said.
The US congratulated the president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and all political leaders following the declaration by the INEC on the results of the February 25 presidential election.
Price said the competitive election represented a new period for Nigerian politics and democracy, stressing that “each of the top three candidates was the leading vote-getter in 12 states, a remarkable first in Nigeria’s modern political era, reflecting the diversity of views that characterised the campaign and the wishes of Nigeria’s voters.”
He also commended the active participation of civil society and the media for advancing electoral norms and political discourse on issues of importance to Nigeria’s citizens.
He said: “We also congratulate the Nigerian people, especially the large number of youths who are relatively new to the political process for demonstrating their strong commitment to their country’s democracy.”
Morocco’s King congratulates Tinubu
His Majesty King Mohammed VI pf Morocco has congratulated the president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
While extending his most sincere wishes to Tinubu for success in office, the King congratulated him for the confidence placed in him by his people, in order to achieve their aspirations for more progress and prosperity.
“On this occasion, the sovereign expressed his satisfaction with the fraternal African ties, the constructive cooperation and the active solidarity between Morocco and Nigeria, as well as his determination to work together with Bola Tinubu to strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries, expand bilateral cooperation to cover new promising sectors that serve the common interests of the two peoples, and contribute to the development, stability and unity of the African continent,” the statement said.
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