Asiwaju has dared Peter Obi and Atiku to meet him in court.
NewsOnline reports that Nigeria’s president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has dared the PDP and LP candidates to meet him in court.
This online newspaper understands that Bola Tinubu who spoke through the spokespersons of the APC presidential campaign council, Festus Keyamo (SAN) and Bayo Onanuga, Tinubu said it was a welcome development for Atiku and Obi to seek redress in court as aggrieved parties if they are convinced that they have proof of electoral frauds.
ALSO: Atiku, Peter Obi Reject Tinubu’s Emergence As President-Elect
According to him, the decision by the duo is certainly better than coaxing their supporters to the streets and instigating social unrest.
In a statement issued by the director, Media and Publicity, of the APC presidential campaign council, Onanuga, Tinubu said Obi’s claim that the polls were not free and fair is false.
Onanuga stated: “Going to court is part of the electoral process and it is the most decent, statesmanlike and civilised course of action to take. We salute the decision. It is surely better than calling supporters to the streets and instigating social unrest.
“Before Mr. Obi goes to court, we consider it necessary to challenge some specific claims in his press address.
“Contrary to his statement, it is not true that the election held 25 February was not free and fair.
“The 2023 election is one of the most transparent and peaceful elections in the history of Nigeria. It is because the process was credible that made it possible for Mr. Obi’s Labour Party to record the over six million votes it got contrary to pre-election forecasts.
“That Labour Party and Mr. Obi surprised bookmakers by winning in Lagos State, Nasarawa, Plateau, Delta and Edo where there are sitting governors of either the All Progressives Congress or the Peoples Democratic Party validates the credibility of the election. Those governors have entrenched political machinery.”
Tinubu argued that for Obi to have staged a major upset by trouncing him in Lagos and other parts of the country attests to the credibility of the election process, adding that in the South East states, most of the sitting governors contested the senatorial election and lost to little known candidates of Labour Party.
Onanuga continued: “The Labour Party also swept the entire five South East states under the control of either APGA, PDP or APC.
“We believe that the Labour Party Presidential Candidate contradicted himself and exposed himself to public ridicule by suggesting that the election was only credible in states and places his party won.”
Onanuga added that Nigerians rejected Obi because he anchored his presidential campaign on the failed strategy of ethnicity and religion, the divisive and dangerous politics that has hobbled the progress of our country for decades.
On his part, the director of Public Affairs and chief spokesperson, of the APC presidential campaign council asked Atiku to stop being delusional, saying the PDP flag bearer destroyed his party and reaped the full consequence of his indiscretion.
Keyamo who is the minister of state for Labour and Employment said, “Alhaji Atiku Abubakar should be thankful that he even exceeded expectations in the elections by coming 2nd; with all the distractions and fractured party with which he campaigned he must have sensed beforehand that he was headed for a humiliating defeat that should have put him a distant 3rd or 4th in the elections. His performance was therefore the best he could achieve.
“Firstly, Atiku Abubakar breached the zoning principle within his own party by insisting on running for President when that was clearly against the mood of the nation; even after emerging as a candidate, the PDP itself continued to rub insult on the faces of southern leaders in the Party by insisting on keeping the position of National Chairman in the North.
“This obviously led to the rebellion of the G5 Governors and their subsequent sabotage of the PDP before the polls and at the polls by campaigning against ATIKU’S candidature. His failure to unite his party and manage this post-primaries fall-out was his eventual undoing.
“One wonders, then, how he expected to have won the election. It is also comical to see that he claims victory at the polls together with Mr. Peter Obi with whom his party has been holding Press Conferences.”
Noting that Nigerians have since seen through Atiku’s ambition which he said is merely self-serving, Keyamo said Tinubu is fully prepared to meet the former VP in court.
“Atiku Abubakar’s decision to challenge the outcome of the results is welcome. We are prepared to meet his challenge, no matter the nature of the challenge, anywhere and anytime.
“If ATIKU Abubakar is not embracing the olive branch extended to him and other losers in the 2023 elections by the President-elect, ASIWAJU Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the least he can do is to quietly relocate to Dubai which has become his traditional home base,” Keayamo noted.
