This is Atiku’s second defeat as the candidate of the major opposition party after trailing President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 when he had Peter Obi as running mate.
By Jeffrey Agbo
Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has said he would go to court to challenge the victory of Bola Tinubu in the February 25 election.
The former Vice President stated this at a press conference on Thursday in Abuja, his first since the hotly-contested poll.
According to Atiku, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) failed to conduct a decent election.
“The battle to fight the wrong of Saturday is not about me but about Nigeria’s future. The battle is to deepen democracy and the future of the youth,” he said.
“INEC failed woefully to live up to expectations. The manipulations and fraud were unprecedented.
“It was a rape of democracy. The process and outcome of the presidential election were grossly flawed in every aspect.”
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Atiku was the first runner-up in the election, polling 6.9 million votes while Tinubu won with 8.7 million votes.
This is Atiku’s second defeat as the candidate of the major opposition party after trailing President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 when he had Peter Obi as running mate.
Atiku’s statement at the press conference was similar to the party’s message in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba.
The party said, “By refusing therefore to transmit directly the results from the Polling Units, INEC violated the Electoral Act and its Rules and Regulation, compromised the process and marred the integrity and credibility of the election results.
“The PDP, therefore, asserts that consequent upon the violation by INEC of Section 60 (4) of the Electoral Act, 2022 and its Rules and Guidelines on the election, the results announced by the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, having not been earlier transmitted directly from the Polling Units before the announcement are ultra vires, of no consequence and cannot stand.
“Consequently, our party and its presidential candidate have commenced an action for legal redress to reclaim our victory in the 2023 Presidential election.”