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The vice presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Senator Datti Baba-Ahmed, has said the party will challenge the results of Saturday’s presidential election in court.
Baba-Ahmed alleged that the All Progressives Congress (APC) used irregularities and violated the Constitution to win the presidential poll.
The APC candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was declared winner of the election by the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu.
Asiwaju Tinubu polled 8.8 million votes to defeat his closest rivals, Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, Peter Obi of LP and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).
Atiku polled 6,984,520; Obi garnered 6,101,533 votes while Kwankwaso polled 1,476,697.
Addressing reporters yesterday in Abuja, Baba-Ahmed insisted that the Saturday’s election did not meet the requirements for a free and fair election.
He said: “It is our position that the purported result didn’t meet the minimum criteria of a transparent, free and fair election, in addition to the most condemnable attacks, voter intimidation and suppression.
“Please, be assured of our determination to fight the injustice that has been perpetuated on Nigerians through all legal and peaceful means. We employ you all to please remain peaceful and calm as our fight and determination for a new Nigeria is just beginning.
“We equally encourage you all to continue with the campaigns and vote massively for the Labour Party in the forthcoming governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections on March 11. Our principal, Mr. Peter Obi, will, in due course, speak to you and indeed the nation.”
“No amount of questioning will ever get Peter Obi or myself or any agent of the Labour Party to preach anything besides peace and tranquility in Nigeria.
“We also ask Nigerians to continue to exercise their civic duties in the upcoming elections. I have said that democracy belongs to the people who can practise it. The only language we know is peace. If Nigerians are going to achieve peace through peaceful protests, so be it.
“We believe more and more in Nigeria and the Nigerian people. Here we are, less than eight months old and we won an election in a country where there is an eight-year concurrent government.
“As far as we are concerned, we won this election. They refused to upload results. They refused to refer to IREV, just for them to defeat us. It took a serving government’s illegality and constitutional breach to defeat Peter Obi and my humble self. Nigerian people are winners.”
Responding to Senate President Ahmad Lawan, who said the Electoral Act 2022 did not provide for electronic transmission of election results, as demanded by some Nigerians, Baba-Ahmed said: “The Senate President, as far as we are concerned, contested for Presidency and now he is elected senator by the verdict of the Supreme Court. You cannot contest two elections. It is on record he contested the presidency. Now, he sits as Senate President to give us this kind of opinion. Such an irresponsible person must never be listened to.” (Nation)
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