President Muhammadu Buhari has said that opposition political parties are protesting against the results of the presidential election for personal and selfish gains, stressing that the process had some faults, the elections were free and fair.
Recall, Nigeria’s main opposition parties had called for the country’s presidential election to be scrapped, alleging that the process had been manipulated.
The opposition parties led by PDP hinged their action on what they described as connivance between the APC and the INEC to rig the presidential election. The protesting parties had demanded that the electoral umpire uploaded the polling units results into the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV) to authenticate the presented results. Despite appeals from the chairman of INEC to the parties to allow the process continue, the opposition party agents insisted on rejecting the results and continuation of the process.
But in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, on Wednesday morning, President Buhari said: “If any candidate believes they can prove the fraud they claim is committed against them, then bring forward the evidence. If they cannot, then we must conclude that the election was indeed the people’s will – no matter how hard that may be for the losers to accept. If they feel the need to challenge, please take it to the courts, not to the streets.
“However, to do the latter means they are not doing it in the interest of the people, but rather to inflame, to put people in harm’s way and all for personal, selfish gains.
“Within Nigeria, the results reveal democracy’s ripening in our country. Never has the electoral map shifted so drastically in one cycle. In the presidential elections, states in all regions across the nation changed colour. Some amongst you may have noticed my home state amongst them. The winning candidate did not carry his own home state either. That happens during a competitive election. Votes and those that cast them cannot be taken for granted. Each must be earned.
“Do not undermine the credibility of INEC. Let us now move forward as one. The people have spoken.”
The Independent National Electoral Commission Chairman and Chief Returning Officer, Professor Mahmood Yakubu had on Wednesday, declared the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the winner of Saturday’s Presidential election. Tinubu edged Atiku, a former vice president and his closest challenger, with no fewer than 1.8 million votes to win the 2023 presidential election.