On Thursday, Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, insisted that he had won the presidential election held on Saturday and was ready to prove it. According to him, the election, won by the All Progressives Congress candidate Bola Tinubu, was controversial and designed to deliver predetermined outcomes. Although the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Tinubu as the president-elect, Obi claimed that the election did not meet the necessary requirements and could not be deemed credible.
Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State, was declared the winner of the 2023 presidential election after he polled 8,794,726 votes. The INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, announced Tinubu as the winner at the International Collation Centre in Abuja during the early hours of Wednesday.
See Also: Bola Tinubu Declared Winner of the 2023 Presidential Elections
However, during a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, Obi insisted that Nigerians were robbed of their true choice and that he would pursue justice through the court system. He was determined to challenge the results until he could prove his point.
Obi stated, “The election that we just witnessed had been conducted and the results announced as programmed. It is a clear deviation from electoral rules and guidelines contrary to what we were promised. This election did not meet the minimum standard expected of a free, fair, transparent and credible election. It will go down as one of the most controversial elections ever conducted in Nigeria. The good and hardworking people of Nigeria have again been robbed by our supposed leaders whom they trusted.”
He assured the Nigerian people that he would explore all legal and peaceful options to reclaim their mandate, and he would prove that they had won the election. He believed that the process through which people came into any position was essential, and Nigeria needed to sanitize the process.
“The process through which people come into the office is far more fundamental, more important than what they do (in office) thereafter. It is my belief that if you must answer your excellency, the process through which you arrive at to office must be excellent. We must now require that we do the right thing to generate the right confidence and moral authority to lead. As you know, the structure of society begins and gradually retrogresses when we act rascally and deliberately in the manipulation of rule of law and suppression of the will of the people,” he said.
Obi has successfully challenged several election results in the past, and he believes he will obtain justice by approaching the court with his firm beliefs. “On this issue (presidential election), I am challenging the process. I will challenge this rascality for the future of the country. The court exists for this, and they have asked me to go to court, and I will be going to court,” the former governor said.
When asked if he was under pressure, he said that no one could pressure him to challenge the rascality. He added, “Please, be assured that this is not the end but the beginning of a journey for the birth of a new Nigeria. Datti and I remain absolutely undaunted and deeply committed to the project of a new Nigeria that will be built on honesty, transparency, fairness, justice, and equity. All the above starts with the process. We have to go through this darkness. The structure of criminality can’t go out overnight. All we need to show is commitment and resilience. I will be at the forefront and will work through this darkness until daybreak,” Obi vowed.
Source: The Punch