Former Vice President and Peoples Democratic Party’s Candidate in last Saturday’s Presidential Election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar addressing a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, March 2, 2023. Channels TV/Sodiq Adelakun
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has rejected the outcome of the 2023 presidential election, describing it as the worst election since Nigeria’s return to Democracy in 1999.
He said that last Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elections were largely flawed and should be challenged.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, the former Vice President accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of shattering the dreams and aspirations of Nigerians with their conduct of the polls.
It was the first time he would be commenting on the 25 February election after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the winner of the keenly contested election.
According to INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, who announced the result, Tinubu polled a total of 8,794,726, beating his closest rival Atiku, who polled 6,984,520 votes, with about two million votes; and Mr Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), who came third with 6,101,533 votes; and 15 other candidates who contested the presidential election.
Notably the PDP was the first to protest the collation of the presidential result and the subsequent announcement of Tinubu as the winner of the election.
During the collation of results at the National Collation Centre in Abuja on Monday, the PDP Agent and member of the party’s presidential campaign council, Dino Melaye, had insisted that INEC must upload the result of all polling units to the election viewing portal (IReV) as initially promised by the commission.
When the INEC Chairman attempted to continue the collation without uploading the results, he walked out of the collation centre in protest. He was joined by the LP’s agent.
Also the followingt day, while the collation of results was ongoing, the PDP had called for the cancellation of the election results and the conduct of another election under the supervision of another person other than Yakubu.
Besides, the LP, and the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), who came third and fourth respectively in the election, have also rejected the results.
LP’s Presidential Candidate, Obi said on Thursday that he would seek redress in court to reclaim his mandate.
At the press conference at the PDP national secretariat, Atiku faulted the conduct of the elections, saying INEC, shattered the hope of Nigerians with the conduct of the election.
He said the election was neither free nor fair, adding that preliminary assessment has placed it as the worst conducted election since the country’s return to democracy.
He said the fraud and manipulation experienced in the election were unprecedented in the history of the country.
The PDP flag bearer wondered why the electoral umpire was in a haste to declare the result of the election, calling the process “a rape of democracy”.
His words: “Having consulted with leaders of our party who are seated here with me and Nigerians from different walks of life, I have come to the conclusion that the processes and outcome of the presidential and national elections on Saturday was grossly flawed by every single material and as such, must be challenged by all of us.”
The 2023 presidential election,he said presented Nigeria and Nigerians an opportunity for a reset but claimed that INEC “failed woefully.”
He added that the electoral umpire’s failure has been attested to by both local and international observers.
Wondering why the electoral umpire was in a haste to declare the result of the election, he described the process as “a rape of democracy”.
Atiku believed this is not the legacy the Buhari-led government wants to leave behind for Nigerians, adding that it is not late for Buhari to make a U-turn.
Noting that the last Saturday election is not about him but about the future of the Nigerian youths, Atiku, however, called on the youths to conduct themselves well.
While the PDP and LP have rejected the outcome of the poll, Atiku, who ran alongside Obi in the 2019 election, says he is open to working with the former Anambra State governor.
“So, as far as I am concerned, Peter is welcome to dialogue with the PDP. We are ready to dialogue with him. I don’t think we will have a problem if he wants to dialogue with the PDP, whether for an alliance or not,” he said during the event.
Obi, who was a former chieftain of the PDP left the party before the presidential primary and joined the LP where he became its candidate.
But Atiku has faulted the move which he said was “hasty” and not well-thought-out.
“At the time Peter decided to leave the PDP for the Labour Party, we had not really begun our primary process,” Atiku explained. “So, the question of whether he was going to get a ticket or not did not arise.”
