By Victoria Atayi
The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr Peter Obi on Thursday formally rejected the outcome of Saturday’s Presidential election vowing to challenge the process in court.
Obi, in his first official reaction to the results of the 2023 presidential election declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), said he is a beneficiary of the court and would take his grievances there for adjudication.
INEC Chairman and Returning Officer for the presidential election, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, had on Wednesday declared Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the election, having polled the majority votes of 8,794,726.
According to Prof Yakubu, PDP’s Atiku Abubakar polled 6,984,520 to come second while Obi came third with 6,101,533 votes.
Speaking at a world press conference at the Labour Party Secretariat in Abuja on Thursday, Obi, along with LP’s National Chairman Julius Abure, and the Director General of his campaign council, Akin Osuntokun, said he was the winner of Saturday’s presidential poll, and asserted that the will of the people had been suppressed.
He vowed to explore all legal and peaceful options to reclaim his mandate. “We will explore all legal and peaceful options to reclaim our mandate. We won the election and we will prove it to Nigerians,” Obi said.
“We were asked to go to the court. Is that not what they said? So, let’s go there,” Obi said as he pleaded with his supporters to remain calm and peaceful, urging them to go out and vote in the forthcoming gubernatorial and state houses of assembly elections.
“Please do not despair, we have elections coming up on 11th, I enjoin you to go and campaign and urge people to come out and vote in the election, we still have so many massive supporters out there that we need for our sub-national and state house of assembly elections,” said Obi.
He further stated: “Elections have been conducted and results announced as programmed. It is a clear version from electoral rules and guidelines as we were promised. This election as you know did not meet the minimum standard expected of a free, transparent, credible, fair election. It would 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. However, let me humbly appeal to most Nigerians to remain peaceful, law abiding and conduct themselves in the most responsible manner.”
Asked about his confidence in the judiciary, Obi said he has been a beneficiary of the judiciary since his time as the governor of Anambra state. “From 2003, I’ve always been in the court. I was there three years to reclaim my mandate. I was there to come back from impeachment, I was there to do interpretation, I was there to challenge my second tenure election. And in all, I’ve been successful without in any way compromising or doing the wrong thing,” he said.
