President-elect Bola Tinubu has dismissed calls for a run-off of the March 18th 2023 presidential election as baseless.
He also questioned the legal competence of the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, to nullify his election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had earlier declared Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 election.
However, Atiku filed a petition to challenge the outcome of the poll at the Presidential Election Petition Court, alleging various irregularities including the non-qualification of the APC candidate.
He also alleged that Tinubu failed to win the majority of the lawful votes cast in the election, and just as he could not secure one-quarter of the lawful votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
In response, Tinubu described Atiku as a consistent serial loser who has since 1993, crisscrossed different political parties in search of power.
He argued that he was validly returned as the winner of the presidential election by INEC and that unlike Atiku, he has been “a most consistent politician, who has not shifted political tendency and alignment”.
According to Tinubu, his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), is a national party, popular amongst Nigerians, cutting across all divides.
He further argued that the emergence of Atiku as the presidential candidate of the PDP led to irreconcilable hostilities within the ranks of the party, causing the emergence of a group of governors known all over the country as the G-5 Governors – Rivers, Oyo, Enugu, Abia, and Benue – who opposed Atiku and vowed to mobilise their people against him.
Tinubu also pointed out that before the balkanisation of the PDP, the South-Eastern States of Enugu, Abia, Imo, Ebonyi, and Anambra used to be controlled by the party.
However, at the presidential election of 25th February 2023, they all went the way of the Labour Party.
While the case is still ongoing, it remains to be seen how the tribunal will rule on the matter.
However, Tinubu’s objections and arguments are likely to have an impact on the case, and the outcome could have significant consequences for Nigeria’s political landscape.
Article updated 2 months ago. Content is written and modified by multiple authors.
