Former Nigerian Vice President and Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, led a protest march yesterday to the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Abuja, days after announcing his decision to challenge the outcome of the February 25 presidential election. The protesters marched from the PDP presidential campaign office to the Maitama office of INEC.
The demonstrators carried placards with inscriptions such as “Save our democracy from INEC,” “INEC is an enemy of Nigerian democracy,” “Cancel 2023 general elections now,” and “Nigerians have lost confidence in INEC,” among others. Atiku was joined by PDP governors, party chieftains, and supporters who were clad in black attire. Atiku and other PDP leaders reiterated their rejection of the election results, which declared candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the President-elect. INEC had declared Tinubu the winner with 8,794,726 votes while Atiku received 6,984,520 votes.
Atiku, speaking before presenting the letter of protest to INEC, said the party would continue its daily protest for a long time, adding that it would not stop them from going to court to challenge the outcome of the election. INEC received the petition and promised to address all remedial issues.
In response, Tinubu called on Atiku to retire from politics and take a rest in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Tinubu, speaking through his aide on media and publicity, Bayo Onanuga, expressed surprise that Atiku embarked on the protest march after promising to seek redress in court. Onanuga added that INEC headquarters is not a court where the prayers of Atiku can be answered, and that no amount of theatrical display will give him succour. The only lawful path for Atiku is to get his lawyers to plead his case in court, said Onanuga.
Meanwhile, Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, attributed Atiku’s failure to win the presidential election to the consequences of ignoring warnings of the G-5 governors. Wike spoke during the inauguration of the Chokocho-Igbodo Road in Etche Council of the state, adding that it was too.
Cc:Guardian
