The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has vowed to challenge the result of the February 25 presidential election announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
At the end of the collation exercise of the results at the International Conference Centre, ICC, in Abuja on Wednesday, the chairman of INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, declared Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC, as the winner.
The declaration has since generated controversy as Atiku of the PDP and the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Mr. Peter Obi among others have described the election as not free and fair as was expected.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, Atiku announced his resolve to challenge the result of the presidential election as announced by INEC.
His words: “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.”
He added: “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.”
Complaining about the result of the presidential election, Atiku said: “However, the dreams and aspirations of Nigerians who braced all the challenges to go and cast their votes on Saturday, 25th of February, 2023, were shattered by the conduct of the Independent National Electoral Commission (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 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.”
