“We would not sit idly by and watch your rights taken from you,” Atiku Abubakar assures as he prepares to challenge Tinubu’s victory in court
In his first media briefing since the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Bola Tinubu Nigeria’s president-elect, Atiku Abubakar, on Thursday, March 2, 2023, said he would explore all legal options in reclaiming what he claimed to be the mandate given to him in the Saturday, February 25, 2023, presidential election.
Atiku, the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party and former Vice President, who contested in 2019 but was defeated by President Muhammadu Buhari, gained 6.9 million votes in the 2023 election to come second behind Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who was declared winner by INEC, on March 1, 2023.
Trailed by Peter Obi, his Vice Presidential candidate in 2019, Atiku decried the results of the election as announced by INEC and promised to challenge the results in court.
“We would not sit idly by and watch your rights taken from you. Your voices will be heard,” he said.
In a joint statement by a coalition of opposition parties on February 28, 2023, including the Labour Party and PDP, the aggrieved political parties said that the conduct of the February 25, 2023, election was marred by widespread violence, rigging, intimidation of voters, manipulation of results, and violation of the laid-down electoral guidelines contained in the Electoral Act of 2022, which INEC had promised to follow in the conduct of the 2023 elections.
Atiku Abubakar has been attempting to rule Nigeria since 1992 when he contested to secure the party presidential ticket of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) but lost the primary election to MKO Abiola, the adjudged winner of the annulled June 12, 1993, presidential election.
Atiku, who was the oldest candidate in the 2023 Presidential race, ran as the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2019 and polled 11.2 million votes. However, his chances of winning the 2023 election were affected when Peter Obi in May 2022 decamped from PDP and joined the Labour Party. While the former VP won Kaduna, Katsina, Adamawa, Sokoto, and Kebbi State – Northern States, he failed to win any state in the Southeast. Citing irregularities in the election, Atiku said that his quest to reclaim his mandate in court is not about him but about the future of Nigerian youths.
“Who wins an election is not as important as the credibility of our electoral process. I call on men and women to come together to defend our democracy,” he said.
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari, who signed the Electoral Act in 2022, which empowers INEC to determine ways to conduct elections, in his congratulatory message to Bola Tinubu said that the elections were free and fair.
“After a degree of polarization that necessarily accompanies any election, it is now time to come together and act responsibly. I call on all candidates to remember the peace pledge they signed just days before the election. Do not undermine the credibility of INEC. Let us now move forward as one. The people have spoken,” he said.
