A third party candidate Peter Opie, He announced on Thursday that he would challenge the outcome of Nigeria’s hotly contested presidential election after official results gave victory to the ruling party’s candidate. Tinubu Ball. The second runner-up expressed himself in the same way, Atiku Abubakar.
“We will explore all legal and peaceful options to restore our mandate. We won the election and we will show it to Nigerians,” the Labor Party candidate told reporters in the capital, Abuja.
A former governor of Lagos, Tinubu served two terms as president Muhammad Bukhari, who will resign in May. It faces enormous economic and security challenges in Africa’s most populous country.
Almost 25 million people voted Saturday’s vote was largely peaceful, but with long delays and slow online results, voters and opposition parties said there was massive voter fraud.
Obi, 61, received the third-highest number of votes with 6.1 million, a remarkable feat for a foreigner in a country dominated by two established parties, according to results announced Wednesday.
Tinubu, The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), was He claimed victory with a total of 8.8 million votes A two-thirds majority vote is required in Nigeria’s states.
Former Vice President of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar, 76, polled the second highest number of votes with a total of 6.9 million votes.
Abubakar on Thursday denounced the ruling party’s candidate, Bola Tinubu, as the winner of the ballots of large-scale fraud and a “violation of democracy”.
At a press conference in Abuja, the nation’s capital, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Abubakar, said, “The rigging and rigging of these elections is unprecedented in the history of our nation.
Considering the number of complaints and irregularities, I don’t understand why the Election Commission was in such a hurry to complete the test and announce the results.
He asserted that this was a violation of democracy in the February 25 election.
According to the opposition leader of Africa’s most populous country, the official results were “grossly biased” in favor of Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Candidates who wish to file legal challenges must take their case to court 21 days after the announcement of the results. At least four parties join him in questioning the results.
But the election is void Only if it is proven that the National Election Commission has often failed to comply with the law And acted to change the outcome. None of the results of the Nigerian presidential election have been overturned by the country’s Supreme Court.
Dinubu on Wednesday called on his rivals and supporters to “join hands” with him, urging them that “together we can embark on the task of rebuilding our national home”.
Elections in Nigeria are often marked by allegations fraud and violence.
In an attempt to address some of those concerns, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) introduced this year Biometric identification First-time voters across the country, as well as IReV, a central online database for uploading results.
But some voters and the opposition said this Computer failures while uploading the count allowed ballots to be tampered with and differences in the results of manual recounts at local polling stations.
including an international audience European unionThey also noted significant logistical problems, disenfranchised voters and INEC’s lack of transparency.
An umbrella group of Nigerian civil society organizations and observers told the process “Can’t be considered reliable”.
“The lack of transparency, especially in the process of collating the results, means that there can be no confidence in the results of this election,” the Situation Room Alliance said on Wednesday.
Disadvantages of the new technology caused long delays and queues, which discouraged some from voting.
With the number of registered voters at 93.4 million, INEC said the voter turnout was 27%, lower than the previous 2019 election.
Representing hope for change for many, especially young Nigerians, Obi said the election “will be one of the most controversial elections ever held in Nigeria”.
“The good, hardworking people of Nigeria have been robbed again by our leaders they trusted.”
When the opposition parties ran amok on Thursday, Nigerians were unusually apathetic. Unlike previous elections where people took to the streets to celebrate or protest, the streets of the capital Abuja were mostly empty as daily life went on. Tinubu’s supporters are hopeful that he will win fairly and be sworn in as president on May 29.
“We voted for him and he has taken office. Now it is your turn to see how Nigeria is affected and help us,” said Gbemizola Olabagun, a water vendor in Lagos. “It should explore everything and make life easier for all of us.”
However, opposition supporters are hopeful that the referendum will be annulled.
“As far as I am concerned, Obi is my president,” said Sima Ekume, a Labor Party supporter. “We will be here when he is declared the winner,” he said.
(With information from AFP and EP)
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