Obi who harped on the need to build a viable global image for Nigeria, said: “I have no issues with Tinubu. I am only challenging the process through which INEC declared him as the President-elect.”
By Emma Ogbuehi
The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the February 25 election, Mr. Peter Obi, on Monday explained why he is contesting the outcome of the poll at the court.
Obi, who stated this while speaking in an interview on Arise TV on Monday, said he has no grudges with the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, regarding his declaration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the winner of the 2023 presidential election.
Obi who harped on the need to build a viable global image for Nigeria, said: “I have no issues with Tinubu. He is somebody I have so much respect for as a brother and regard as a father.
“I am only challenging the process through which INEC declared him as the President-elect. I have no issues with his declaration as the President-elect.”
Obi who accused INEC of causing the confusion that led to the impasse appealed the electoral body to rise up to the responsibility of helping Nigeria build a viable global image.
“We are committed to a new Nigeria. We must do everything that is right.
“We need to build strong democratic institutions that will teach people what their job requires and what government is all about,” he said.
The former Anambra State governor insisted that to be referred to as “His Excellency,” the process leading to the emergence of such a fellow has to be “excellent.”
Obi called on INEC to be transparent and allow itself to be scrutinised by the public since it is a public institution run by taxpayers’ money.
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He asked the electoral body to allow him access to materials used during the election as granted by the court, saying he was not interested in challenging who was declared as winner of the poll, but the process that led to the declaration.
“I’m not challenging who they declared,” Obi stated, “I’m not challenging whatever the outcome is, I’m challenging the process (through) which they arrived at their declaration.”
“And unless we do that, we’re not going to stop the rascality we witnessed in that election,” he added.
“The process through which people come into office is for me far more fundamental than what they do thereafter. There is a process of doing things. There is a process of arriving at any destination.
“Like I said in my press conference, if you’re going to answer ‘His Excellency’, the process of coming to that position must be excellent. If you’re going to be a Bishop, there’s a process of being a Bishop,” Obi said, insisting that getting the process right was important.
INEC’s chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, had in the early hours of Wednesday, March 1, declared APC’s Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 presidential election to beat Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party and LP’s Obi who came second and third respectively in the keenly contested poll.
Meanwhile, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has debunked news accusing him of launching fresh plot against Tinubu.
He said the story which was published in today’s edition of The Nation newspaper owned by Tinubu is fake.
The Governor disclosed this today in a statement signed by the Acting Director Corporate Communications, CBN, Mr. Isa Abdulmumin.
Emefiele said: “The attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been drawn to a story published in The Nation newspaper of Monday, March 13, 2023 edition, alleging that the Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele has launched a “fresh plot against President-elect”.
“The aforementioned story went further to allege that the Governor has made a certain amount of money available to a candidate ahead of the March 18, 2023, gubernatorial poll.
“We wish to inform members of the public that this story is completely false and malicious as the CBN Governor does not know and has never met or even spoken with Mr. Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, either in person or through a proxy.
“We wish to reiterate that the CBN Governor does not take part in politics and therefore urge anyone with contrary information to prove the Governor wrong by providing any facts.
“As such, the Governor and his team at the CBN should be allowed to focus on their assigned job with a view to achieving the statutory mandate of the Bank.”