Days after announcing his intention to challenge the results of the February 25 elections, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar led a protest march to the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Abuja yesterday.
‘Save our democracy from INEC,’ placards read. ‘INEC is an enemy of Nigerian democracy,’ ‘Cancel 2023 general election now,’ ‘We stand for justice, we fight for a new Nigeria,’ and ‘Nigerians have lost faith in INEC,’ among other slogans, demonstrators marched from Legacy House, the PDP presidential campaign office, through the British High Commission in Abuja, the National University Commission (NUC) office, to the Maitama office of the electoral umpire, to protest the outcome of the election won by the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
Protesters included PDP governors and top party officials such as national chairman Iyorchia Ayu, former national chairman Uche Secondus, chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT), Adolphus Wabara, former Senate President Bukola Saraki, and Senator Dino Melaye, among others.
Tinubu was declared President-elect by INEC on Wednesday after receiving 8,794,726 votes to defeat Atiku, who received 6,984,520 votes, and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), who received 6,101,533 votes.
Atiku and party leaders, dressed in black, reiterated their earlier rejection of the results, claiming that the election was marred by irregularities and that they would challenge it in court.
The party also filed a protest letter with INEC, which was received by Festus Okoye, National Commissioner, Information and Voter Education Committee.
Earlier, before Okoye received the petition, Atiku stated that the party would continue its daily protest for a long time, adding that the exercise would not prevent them from going to court to challenge the election results.
“We are protesting, and we have every right to protest,” he said. It does not prevent us from going to court. We will continue to protest for a long time, either every day or every other day.”
“PDP detests and condemns this absurdity and brazen rape of our electoral process,” the petition states. Nigeria should be viewed as a country governed by the rule of law, and this is a collective responsibility we owe to our citizens who want to establish true democratic principles and the rule of law.
“In consideration of the foregoing, the leadership of PDP, acting on the mandate of the electorate, has resolved as follows: To reject and declare as unacceptable the outcome, announcement, and declaration of the presidential election results.
“To call on your Commission to suspend the ongoing transmission of the Polling Units results to your Server, which is in complete breach of the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.
“To warn your Commission against a repeat of the experiences of the February 25, election in the coming governorship and state Assembly elections of March 11. Any attempt to manipulate the electoral process will be met with vehement opposition.
“To demand an explanation for why you proceeded with the declaration of the election results despite all calls to address the complaints brought to your attention before and during the collation process.”
Following receipt of the letter, Okoye stated that the Commission acted in the best interests of Nigerians and not in the interests of any particular political party. He promised to address all remedial issues.
“So, I received this protest letter on behalf of the INEC chairman, and I assure you that it will be forwarded to him. If there are any remedial issues, we will address them.
“But I want to assure you that this Commission is a listening Commission; this Commission is a public trust and this Commission belongs to the Nigerian people. Our allegiance is to the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. “This Commission is not beholden to any political party,” he added.
However, in response to the protest, the President-elect has called on Atiku to step down from politics and take a break in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
“At 77 in November, Atiku does not have age on his side. He ran in his last election, and hopefully, he learned valuable lessons, such as never putting his selfish interests ahead of the party and establishing principles in his party and the polity,” he said.
Tinubu, speaking through his media and publicity aide, Bayo Onanuga, expressed surprise that Atiku embarked on the protest march after promising to seek redress in court.
“What was on display by Atiku and his motley crowd was a new low from the perennial election loser,” he added. We don’t see how a march to INEC by a small crowd will provide a victory window for Atiku and his fractured PDP. The election petition tribunal is Atiku’s only option after the electoral umpire declared Tinubu the winner.
“The INEC headquarters are not a court where Atiku’s prayers can be answered. No amount of theatrical display will console him. The honorable and legal course of action is for Atiku to hire lawyers to represent him in court.”
Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, has also blamed Atiku’s failure to win the presidential election on ignoring the G-5 governors’ warnings. He made the remarks yesterday while inaugurating the Chokocho-Igbodo Road in the state’s Etche Council.
Wike added that it was too early in the day for people to forget that the PDP’s eventual fate could have been avoided if the party’s national leadership had heeded the numerous appeals and demands to adopt the principle of equity, fairness, and justice as they approached the election.
He stated that the presidency will be returned to the South after the North’s eight-year term is up.
“Our Constitution states in Section 7:3c that public offices, both appointive and elective, shall be rotated. You were elected party chairman. You were elected as the party’s presidential candidate, and we approached you, claiming that this violated the spirit of our Constitution. Give us the chairmanship back, you said you had to have it all because you won. I told them to be careful because no one wants to remember what we were shouting about.”
Wike explained that he never criticized either the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, or Tinubu during the campaigns.
Wike stated that he would rather campaign unapologetically to true Nigerians to vote for a Southern presidential candidate in the spirit of equity, fairness, and justice.
Comrade John Timothy, a Plateau-based public affairs analyst and lawyer, has condemned the protest as unnecessary and uncalled for.
Timothy called the protest a breach of court processes, especially since the PDP has expressed a desire to go to court to challenge the election results.
“PDP’s protest has shown that PDP does not have confidence in the judiciary, except perhaps to goad the judiciary,” he said. I’m not sure how my lords will perceive the action, or whether the PDP’s action was intended to sway the lordships’ decisions in their favor. But, whatever the case may be, the PDP’s actions are not in the best interests of the party’s legal position. Nigerians, regardless of their social standing, have inalienable rights to peaceful protest.”
