Two months after the 2023 presidential election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and Peter Obi of the Labour Party, LP, both claim victory.
They are not alone in the debate, as the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, is issuing media announcements with counterclaims about the poll results.
Given that the cases are being litigated, the developments are considered as concerning.
President-elect Bola Tinubu will be sworn in as Nigeria’s new leader on May 29.
But his two main rivals, Atiku and Obi, are sticking to their claim that they, not Tinubu, won the election.
President Muhammadu Buhari stated a few days ago that the opposition lost the election due of overconfidence.
“They were already telling their foreign backers that they would defeat the APC,” he was reported as saying. We worked hard and won because our Party combined confidence with caution. Their arrogance is now causing more issues for the opposition than anyone else. They are having difficulty convincing those who have backed them from the outside why they are unable to defeat us.
“They lost because of a combination of overconfidence, complacency, and poor tactical decisions.” This has exacerbated the situation in their camp. “How come they didn’t remove us?”
Also, Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, has urged the opposition to put an end to their endless wrangling over the last election, which they lost badly.
However, the PDP has retaliated, claiming that Atiku won the election.
The opposition party’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, stated that polling unit results proved that Atiku won the presidential election, but the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, declared Tinubu the winner.
“The PDP insists that its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, clearly won the February 25, 2023 Presidential election, as evidenced by actual votes cast at Polling Units across the country,” he stated.
“The PDP sees the subjudice claims by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, that the opposition lost the election as yet another attempt by the APC-led Federal Executive to bully and blackmail the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.”
“Nigerians are aware that, based on the authentic results obtained from the Polling Units, Atiku Abubakar, not the APC candidate, met all of the requirements for winning the Presidential election.”
The Labour Party’s Peter Obi also seized the occasion of a stakeholders’ gathering to re-echo his position that he was the election winner.
Obi, who finished third in the election, said he will utilize every legal measures possible to reclaim his allegedly stolen mandate.
“Earlier, I interacted with the Anambra State Labour Party Stakeholders in Awka,” Obi posted following the Awka meeting. The discussion was lively and productive. Part of our discussions focused on the party’s future direction.
“I reassured them that I was willing to go the distance, to investigate every legal option available to ensure that we regained our mandate.” I appreciated all of their help thus far, and assured them of my. PO.”
With all parties exchanging processes, the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal is anticipated to resume hearing all complaints brought by the various political parties.
Five political parties have petitioned the Tribunal to overturn Tinubu’s victory.
The PDP, the LP, the Allied People’s Movement, the Action Alliance, and the Action People’s Party are among them.
According to the INEC results, Tinubu received 8,794,726 votes, ahead of the PDP’s Atiku, who received 6,984,520 votes, and Peter Obi of the LP, who received 6,101,533 votes. With 1,496,687 votes, Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) finished fourth.
Barr Olu Omotayo, a legal luminary, stated that politicians’ behavior following the presidential election is alien.
