Olusegun Olanrewaju and David Lawani, with agency report
Candidates of the three major political parties in last Saturday’s presidential election yesterday engaged in verbal warfare over the outcome of the exercise which produced Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as the president-elect.

Tinubu was declared the winner by the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday with 8,794,726 votes. INEC said Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) came second with 6,984,520 votes while Peter Obi came third with 6,101,533 votes.

 

*We’re heading to court to retrieve our mandate, says Obi

But reacting to the results, the candidate of the LP, Obi, yesterday said his party would follow all available legal and peaceful procedures to reclaim its mandate.

The LP presidential candidate noted that Nigerians trooped out en-masse to participate in what was promised and expected to be free, fair, and transparent Presidential and National Assembly elections.

He said at a news conference in Abuja that the election had been conducted and results announced, but, according to him, it was a clear deviation from the electoral rules and guidelines as promised.

At a separate press conference in Abuja yesterday, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, who also laid claims to victory in the presidential election, said his party’s legal advisers were scrutinising the outcome of the exercise and would see redress in courts.

However, this came just as the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Abdullahi Adamu, has urged aggrieved members of the opposition Labour Party (LP) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to seek legal redress over the outcome of last Saturday’s presidential election instead of protests walks across states.

The LP presidential candidate said he was robbed of his mandate but he would contest it in court as an obedient member of society.

“However, let me humbly and most respectfully appeal to all Nigerians to remain peaceful, law-abiding and conduct yourselves most responsibly.

“Please be assured that for Datti and me, and indeed for all of us, this is not the end, but the beginning of the journey to birth a new Nigeria,” he said.

Obi said that Datti Baba-Ahmed and himself remained undaunted and committed to the project of a new Nigeria that would be built on honesty, transparency, fairness, justice, and equity.

“All of these start with the process, the process through which people are elected to office is as important if not more important than what they do thereafter with the office and authority.

“If we seek to be called Your Excellency, then the process through which we are elected should also be excellent or sufficiently credible to generate the required confidence and moral authority to govern and lead.

“Let me reiterate and assure my good people of Nigeria that we will follow all available legal and peaceful procedures to reclaim our mandate,” he said.

According to Obi, the destruction of a society can be a gradual or sudden process through acts such as deliberate refusal to obey the rule of law and via the suppression of the will of the people.

He urged his supporters to continue with their campaigns and troops out on Saturday, March 11, to vote again for Labour Party in the Governorship and State Assembly Elections.

“Please do not despair at a time when we can still achieve massive victories in the forthcoming elections,” he said.

Obi appreciated and thanked all Nigerians that participated in the elections, especially those who voted LP.

“My profound thanks go to the youths, ‘Obidients’, and support groups for your commitment and resilience for a better Nigeria.

“You truly showed that you can take back your country; we will continue to pray for the repose of the souls of all Nigerians killed during the campaigns and for those that were violently attacked, we pray for their quick recovery.

“We reiterate our total condemnation of such attacks and continue to demand that security agencies stop further attacks and bring perpetrators to book,” he said.

 

You didn’t win the election- APC PCC

In a swift reaction to the claim by Obi, the Tinubu-Shettima Campaign Council in a statement signed by its Director of Public Affairs and Chief Spokesperson, Festus Keyamo, described Obi’s claim as “outlandish”.

“We make this brief statement in reaction to the Press briefing held earlier today by the defeated candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi, wherein (in his now well-acknowledged penchant for spewing falsehood) he made the outlandish claim before the world that he won the 2023 Presidential Election, but he was robbed of the victory.

“Having been officially declared winner of the 2023 presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission and has received his Certificate of Return (along with his Vice-President Elect), the president-elect, Bola Tinubu would have ignored these continuous false claims being peddled by Mr Peter Obi and his supporters. But we recognise his motive of doing this is to simply delegitimise the mandate freely given to the president-elect by the majority of Nigerians.”

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*Atiku: We’re talking to our lawyers for advice

With heavy words and hard delivery, the presidential candidate of PDP, Atiku, vowed to reclaim his electoral mandate, referring to the outcome of last Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly as a ‘rape of democracy’.

Atiku, who spoke at a World Press Conference in Abuja, graced by top party faithful, appealed to the judiciary to live up to its image as the last reference point of the common man, but said if he lost in his reclamation bid from the Supreme Court, “I will appeal to God’ for eventual justice.”

The former Nigeria vice-president, who took some time to recall his various democratic struggles in the country both in the civilian and military dispensations, also appealed to the youth to avoid acts of brigandage, but that they should remain vigilant.

Atiku promised to raise a Government of National Unity (GNU) to plot the way for the country, as offered an olive branch to his former co-contender on the platform of PDP (before defecting to, and leading the Labour Party (LP) to the presidential race last Saturday), Peter Obi, a welcome to merger issues, if he so wants.

The seven-time presidential contender (from 1992), who recalled that he took his former principal, Olusegun Obasanjo, to 11 triumphant court cases during their tenure as Nigerian leaders, and without any measure of influence, urged the judiciary to address issues in the election to refer to a presidential candidate he cynically referred to as a ‘drug baron’.

“If elected, the first thing I will do is to raise a Government of National Unity…I will look at the performance of each party, and bring them forward…that is the only way to deepen democracy,” he said.

Casting himself in the mould of an arch-democrat, the presidential candidate said he had always sacrificed his political aspiration against dictatorship, whether civilian or military.

Atiku said that, at the outset of the present transition programme, party leaders were expectant that some provisions in the 2022 electoral act and the use of BVAS would make a way for a transparent election, even far beyond the 1993 version which was adjudged to be one of Nigeria’s fairest and freest, “even when there was no internet.”

To his dismay, he said, the 2023 general elections have turned out to be the most manipulated, with unprecedented cancellations “which was indeed a rape of democracy”.

He said the PDP leadership concluded that the current election outcome and processes represent the grossly inefficient “in every material particular, and must be challenged by all of us.”

The election, he added, has been “widely condemned by local and international observers|.

Referring to the youths, the presidential candidate added, “I have decided to dedicate the rest of my life to democracy and vote in will and sum footing, a stable, prosperous Nigeria.

“This is because Nigeria represents the hope of Africa and the Third World.”

Atiku said he hoped that the judiciary will redeem itself “and rise to the occasion and establish itself as the last hope of the common man.”

 

*Seek legal redress instead of street protests, APC chair tells LP, PDP

Meanwhile, the National Chairman of APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, has urged aggrieved members of the opposition LP and PDP to seek legal redress over the outcome of last Saturday’s presidential election instead of protesting walks across states.

Adamu also described the victory of the presidential candidate of the party, Senator Bola Tinubu, as one where Nigerians spoke through their choice, saying the attempt by the defeated opposition PDP and LP candidates to foment crisis was uncalled.

He made this submission when he held a media parley with the APC press corps yesterday.

He noted that he particularly appreciate the coverage given to the party but said the walkout led by the opposition parties during the collation of results was childish and unthinkable.

He condemned the attitude and behaviour of these leaders who feel the only way to make their voices heard was burning the nation into ashes adding that democracy is a choice and no one can subvert the will of the people most espresso now that they have spoken loudly through the ballot.

He said, “I would be remiss if I fail to condemn in the strongest possible terms the shameful conduct of the leadership of PDP and the Labour Party in their unwarranted attempts to sabotage the elections and throw the country into chaos and avoidable crisis. It is a pity that they take their loss so badly. They ought to be good sportsmen and women in the political arena.

“Their protest walk out from the collation centre was childish but a calculated attempt to rubbish the elections and impugn the integrity of the electoral umpire. Their call for the cancellation of the elections over their unproven allegations of electoral fraud must be the height of diabolical desperation.

“All patriotic citizens of this country who value peace and unity of purpose must rise with one voice to condemn these elements who want to parade themselves in the public space as the guardians of our electoral system.

“Aided by some self-appointed guardians of our nation’s conscience, they wanted to turn the victory of our party into ashes in the mouths of all Nigerians and set the country up for global opprobrium.

“It is condemnable and unpatriotic and unworthy of men who ought to recognise that in a democracy respect for the right of the people to freely choose their leaders through an election is the fundamental pillar of that form of government.

“Nothing in our laws and the constitution gives aggrieved individuals and groups the right to abort the unequivocal choices freely made by the people in their wisdom. Power belongs to the people and the people must be allowed to exercise it in the best way they choose in instituting the government of their choice.

“Our laws provide channels for the redress of electoral grievances. We urge those who feel aggrieved to avail themselves of those channels to seek redress. To set the house on fire in pursuit of a rat is not an act of courage or patriotism. It stands condemnable.

“We are happy to see that the people have seen through their unpatriotic antics and rejected their attempts to set the country on fire. We commend the highly placed and patriotic former public officers who instantly rose in defence of the conduct of the elections and the election results and condemned the saboteurs.

“They have once more risen to the challenge of saving our nation from a needless crisis. We salute them. We must learn to be good losers, not bad losers. It is the hallmark of good citizenship.”

Adamu, who lost his ward and state to the opposition LP presidential candidate, Obi, commended the efforts of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and its chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, for doing a great job in ensuring that the Commission was not distracted in its sacred duty to the nation and Nigeria.

 

*Tinubu sets up reconciliation committee to meet Atiku, Obi, others

Meanwhile, the President-elect, Bola Tinubu has reportedly set up a reconciliation committee to meet with presidential candidates of other political parties.

Rotimi Akeredolu, governor of Ondo state made this known in Abuja late Wednesday during the presentation of the certificate of return to the president-elect, and Kashim Shetima, vice president-elect.

Also, in a statement by Richard Olatunde, his chief press secretary said Tinubu’s election victory reflected the will of Nigerians, adding that every aggrieved person would be met for reconciliation.

He said, “The president-elect has set up committees to meet with the gentlemen who contested in the election for us to start the healing process. I belong to one of the committees. We are going to meet them and appeal to them so that we can work together,”

“This is an election that was not padded. People who voted were counted, that is the way I see it, not one which shows millions of votes. You can see the candidates, everyone won 12 states each, it has never been like that before.”

Akeredolu maintained that the people of Ondo state voted for Tinubu because they wanted a southern president.

“Ondo people are progressives and we will always, at least, be on the side of progressivism. From the onset, we were at the forefront of clamour for a southern president and so we have to put everything we had into it and we got the support, that is why we can make it,” he said.

Tinubu was declared the winner of the 2023 presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday, March 1, 2023