By David Oluwaseun
Both the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), counterpart, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar have rejected the result of the 2023 presidential election which produced the flagbearer of the All Progressives Congress in the election, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as the winner.
In separate press conference, the two contestants faulted the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in declaring Tinubu as the winner of the election.
Obi while in the press conference declared that he actually won the presidential election.
According to him, he was robbed of his mandate which he can only retrieve in a court of law.
He described Nigerians who “trooped out en masse” during the Presidential and National Assembly elections last Saturday as the “shining stars leading to a New Nigeria.”
Obi noted that the commitment and resilience of Nigerians, even in the face of “unwarranted and barbaric attacks” is a testimony that a New Nigeria is “indeed POssible.”
The former Anambra governor noted that last Saturday’s election would go down as “one of the most controversial elections ever conducted in Nigeria,” adding that the good and hardworking people of Nigeria had again been “robbed by the institutions and leaders whom they trusted.”
He said, “Let me also appreciate and thank all Nigerians that participated in our last election, especially those who believed and tirelessly worked for a New Nigeria and voted for us. 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!
“The lady, Jennifer Efidi, who was stabbed but insisted on exercising her right to vote and indeed all Nigerians who voted during the election are the shinning stars leading us to a New Nigeria!
He said, “We’ll explore all legal options to retrieve our mandate. We won the election. I’m fully committed to a better future for the country and nothing can stop that.
“For the election on Saturday go out there and vote. I’ll be part of it, I assure you” Peter Obi said
On his part, Atiku said his move to enthrone and deepen democracy in Nigeria started even during the military era almost cost his life.
The PDP candidate claimed that he has been battling for the nation’s top job for the past three decades.
He said, “It is with a heart full of sadness that I address you today. I have in the last three decades devoted my life to battle to birth and deepen democracy in our country.
“It was a battle that started during the military era. It was a struggle that nearly cost me my life and that of my son where eight policemen were killed in the attempt to save our lives. I survived the assassination only by the mercy and the grace of God.
“That was not all, my businesses were nearly crippled. My commitment in the enthronement of democracy made me join forces with other compatriots.
“As a leader of the defunct Social Democratic Party, together with our current Chairman, we fought and won the 1993 presidential election which was acclaimed to be the freest election in our nation’s history. There was no internet then, yet it was the freest and fairest election”
The manipulation and fraud that attended this election was 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.
Having consulted with leaders of our party and Nigerians from different walks of life, I have come to the conclusion that the processes and outcome of the Presidential and National Assembly election of last Saturday was grossly flawed in every material particular, and as such 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 the future generations and indeed to assure his legacy.
This battle to right the wrongs of 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.
I know that Nigerians, especially the youth, are traumatized by the developments, but I want to urge them to conduct themselves peacefully. Like I have done over the years, I assure you that I will commit the rest of my life in ensuring that true democracy, which affirms the supremacy of your votes and your will, will take firm footing and guarantee a stable, prosperous and peaceful Nigeria. This is more so as Nigeria represents the hope of Africa and the Black World.
It is my hope that the judiciary will redeem itself this time around and rise to the society’s expectation as the last HOPE. In the end, who wins is not as important as the credibility of our elections and electoral processes.
I call on all men and women of goodwill to join hands with us in the vanguard to defend our constitution from the brigandage of anti democratic forces. Finally I urge Nigerians to remain vigilant and resolute. You have the constitutionally guaranteed right of freedom to choose your leaders. We will not sit idly by and watch your rights taken from you.
On the reason his Labour Party counterpart dumped the umbrella Party, Atiku said Peter Obi, dumped PDP during the build-up to the party’s presidential primary election in 2022, Atiku said Obi dumped the party because of the demand of the PDP governors
He said, “I think Peter was in a rush. When the campaign started, and our PDP governors sat down and said they must produce the presidential and vice presidential candidates, the chief of staff among themselves, Peter (Obi) got scared and left.
“I did not get scared. I stood up against the governors. When we founded the PDP, some of them (governors) were perhaps in secondary schools or universities. So, why should I be afraid? So, I stood up and I fought them. They fought me and I fought them and I won the primary election.
“So, if he was there, nothing could have stopped him from becoming a running mate because I had the right to choose whoever I wanted as my running mate.
“So, questions of whether I will work with Peter or whether he wounded (scuttled) PDP chances? Well, he did to some extent because all the votes he polled were PDP votes in South-South and South-East. But whether he will achieve his ambition or not, is left for God to decide.”
The former vice president also admitted that the Labourparty candidate slashed PDP votes in both South-East and South-South regions.
“At the time Peter decided to leave the PDP and join Labour Party, we had not, I believed, begun our primary election process, so the question about whether he was going to get the ticket or not did arise.
“Yes, I agree it is a fact that he took our votes from the South-East and South-South but that, of course, would not make him a president. Absolutely, it will not.
“You all know that to be a president in this country, you need a vote from everywhere. But he is welcome to dialogue with the PDP and we are ready to dialogue with him. I don’t think we will have any problem if he wants to dialogue with PDP whether he forms an alliance or not.”
However, the president-elect, Bola Tinubu in his reaction faulted Obi’s claim, insisting that Obi lost the election.
In a statement signed by the Director of Public Affairs and Chief Spokesperson, Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo advised the former governor of Anambra State to stop misleading the gullible, noting that Tinubu won the election and not him.
According to him: ”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 having received his Certificate of Return (along with his Vice-President Elect), the President-Elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu would have ignored this 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 majority of Nigerians.
“Mr. Peter Obi is always quick to cite some isolated incidents of irregularities outside his strongholds that could not have SUBSTANTIALLY affected the outcome of the results in those areas, whereas he DELIBERATELY fails to comment on tons and tons of evidence circulating everywhere wherein his supporters in his strongholds engaged in thuggery, hooliganism, violence and outright falsification of figures against our Party and our supporters. He pretends to play the victim, whereas he is the greatest culprit in this game of brickbats.
“Mr. Peter Obi knows HE COULD NOT HAVE won having played the most divisive religious politics in our history and the pattern of the votes clearly show that; Mr. Obi KNOWS HE COULD NOT HAVE WON having broken out as a fragment of the main opposition, the PDP and all he could hope for was to harvest a portion of the votes of PDP in a section of the country and the results do NOT tell a lie; Mr. Obi knows HE COULD NOT HAVE WON, when he presented himself as a tribal candidate and was only campaigning in settlements of his tribesmen in other States outside the South East instead of appealing to all and sundry; Mr. Obi knows he could not have won having joined the Labour Party few months ago and bought the ticket of the Party without valid Primaries and thereby polarised his party; Mr. Peter Obi KNOWS HE DID NOT WIN because he did not even fulfil the minimum requirement of our constitution which requires a spread of 25 percent in two-thirds of the States of the Federation. He did not come close. With his divisive rhetorics, he could not have ever come close.
“It is also ludicrous that Mr. Peter Obi is laying claim to victory along with his new-found partner, the PDP, that is also laying claim to victory. I tweeted this morning, thus: ‘’This is the first time in my entire life that I am seeing people who came 2nd and 3rd in an exam both claiming they took first and then agreeing to protest together to the examiner to record that both of them took first, yet they are not seeing the contradiction in their actions.’’ We stand by that comment.
“The President-Elect, ASIWAJU Bola Ahmed Tinubu has extended a hand of fellowship to his defeated opponents, including Mr. Peter Obi to join hands with him in nation-building.
“Mr. Peter Obi should embrace that hand of fellowship and brotherhood by the President-elect as a committed patriot instead of engaging in this crass grandstanding.
