…Urges Peter Obi, Atiku to expite action in court
SHARE THIS
–Pix(above, R-L): Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and PMB
President Muhammadu Buhari has restated his avowed determination not to annul the “victory” of Bola Ahmed Tinubu of APC, in the recently concluded presidential election like that of Chief MKO Abiola of June 12, 1993, maintaining that Tinubu’s election stands.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, disclosed this in a piece chronicling key takeaways from the President’s recently-concluded trip to Doha, Qatar, for the 5th United Nations summit on Least Developed Countries.
According to Shehu’s statement, the results of the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections stand until otherwise proven in court, regardless of alleged irregularities and harsh criticisms of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The statement ruled out any possibility of annulling the presidential elections as was the case of Chief MKO Abiola of the famous June 12, 1993 presidential election; advising aggrieved candidates of the opposition parties to hasten up their aggression in court instead.
Shehu said President Muhammadu Buhari “remained reticent about INEC’s criticism by wishful thinkers” because he had long decided not to take any decision that would undermine the electoral process.
“President Buhari not only muted himself following the cacophony, but he also picked up international travel.
“Bola Tinubu’s election stands. If you are aggrieved, and you have the locus to do so, go to court,”’ the statement reads.
According to Shehu,”in the build-up to Buhari’s trip to Qatar, he was faced with orchestrated attempts to poison public opinion against national institutions, particularly the presidential election and its conduct by INEC as an institution, against which vile and unsubstantiated allegations were hurled.
“The clear intent of this was creating an atmosphere of fear, polarising the public, and demonising the administration of the President.
“The wishful thinkers appeared to assume that the June 12, 1993 election crisis, the worst ever since the Civil War, could be recreated.
“Those who sought to do this forgot what the President said at the palace of the Gbong-Gwom Jos, when he went to the city to inaugurate the Tinubu-Shettima campaign.
“He said ‘this election will not be annulled; whoever is the winner will be president’.”
“The presidential spokesman echoed Buhari’s several iterations to world leaders in Qatar about handing over to a new President on May 29, 2023,” he stressed.
The State Online recalls that prior to the INEC’s declaration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as the winner of the election, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the Labour Party, LP, had called for the cancellation of the exercise, citing massive irregularities.
At a press conference held in Abuja on Monday, February 27, the vice presidential candidates of PDP and LP, Ifeanyi Okowa and Yusuf Datti, respectively, demanded fresh elections nationwide.
They said INEC failed to transmit results electronically from the BVAS to the iREV portal immediately after collation at the polling units, thus creating rooms for unwholesome practices of rigging the election.
This is even as the Commission’s chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, went ahead and declared Tinubu the President-elect and presented him with Certificate of Return almost immediately.
But LP’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has particularly vowed to challenge the poll, which he describes to be massively programmed to deliver pre-determined results.
According to him, the election did not, in any way, meet the necessary requirements and cannot be adjudged credible, free and fair for contemporary democracy.
Addressing a world press conference in Abuja, Thursday, March 2, Obi said that Nigerians were robbed of their true choice, insisting he would pursue justice through legitimate means of the court and was ready to challenge the results till he proves his argument.
“Labour Party won the election and I will prove it,” Obi vowed, adding, “I will challenge this rascality for the future of the country.”/SHARE THIS
- Tags: PMB, Garba Shehu,Bola Tinubu, APC, Peter Obi, LP, Atiku Abubakar, PDP
