Tinubu received 37 per cent of the votes, or nearly 8.8m to win the election, while main opposition candidate, Atiku won 29 per cent with almost 7m
By Kehinde Okeowo
On Saturday, February 25, Nigerians trooped to their polling units to elect the next president, who will take over from the incumbent, President Muhammed Buhari on May 29.
The major contenders were candidates of the ruling party, All Progressives Party (APC), Bola Tinubu, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar and candidate of Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi.
On Wednesday, March 1, after the citizens had waited for four days after voting, the election’s returning officer, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, who doubled as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman declared APC’s Tinubu as the winner and President-elect.
According to him, Tinubu polled a total of 8,794,726 votes to beat his nearest challengers, the Peoples Democratic Party’s Atiku Abubakar and Labour Party’s Peter Obi who came second and third after securing 6,984,520 and 6,101,533 votes respectively.
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After the announcement, the candidates of PDP and LP rejected the result and issued several press statements, they also hinted that they will be approaching the Electoral Tribunal for redress.
“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 at the press briefing in Abuja.
Atiku in a separate press briefing said: “Having consulted leaders of our parties who are seated here with me and Nigerians in different walks of life, I have come to the conclusion that the processes and outcome of the presidential and National Assembly election last Saturday is grossly flawed in every material particular and as such must be challenged by all of us.”
However, despite appeals for calm by the President-elect and the PDP and LP candidates, their supporters have continued to go for each other’s jugulars on social media, while so many are walking the delicate tribal and religious lines.
Given that the election is over, it is time for all the supporters to know that the election has been won and lost and that aggrieved parties need to follow laid down procedures to reclaim their mandates.
To Tinubu’s supporters, it’s time to be magnanimous in victory and stop gloating. The fact that your principal got only 37 per cent of the total votes cast and only won one-third of the states in Nigeria shows how divided we are as a country.
It is, therefore, not a time to mock the losers but a time to join hands together with the opposition to take the country to its rightful place.
To Obi’s followers, his feat is unprecedented despite the loss, winning 11 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as a newcomer and without political structure in any state is a statement, it is time to add governors and the house of assembly members to the list of senators and House of Representatives members already on board.
Moreover, the President-elect has acknowledged the power of the youth and promised to work for them, it is time to approach the court to reclaim Obi’s mandate, if truly stolen, it’s not time for cyberbullying and issuing threats.
For Atiku supporters, it is time for soul-searching. From the results announced by INEC, a collaboration between LP and PDP would have given your candidate the victory.
He, however, bungled it when he dismissed the G5 PDP governors and the power of the youth. It is time for the party to begin reconciliation, even as it goes to court to challenge the result.
On the whole, despite the positives of the 2023 election, the failure to use the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) which ought to further enhance its integrity will forever taint the election outcome.
However, Nigerians can take solace in the mini-revolution, which saw 20 sitting governors lose their states to the opposition, 7 sitting governors lose their senatorial bids, and the President and President-elect lose their respective states to the opposition.