The President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has expressed readiness to meet Mr. Peter Obi of the Labour Party in court.
Obi had, in an address responding to the outcome of the 25 February Presidential election, stated that he won the election, adding that he would prove it to Nigerians in the law court.
However, speaking through the Director of Media and Publicity, APC Presidential Campaigning Council, Bayo Onanuga, Tinubu dismissed Obi’s claims on the election, adding that the Labour Party had no path to winning a national election.
He hailed the decision by Obi to toe the path of the law in airing his grievances against the outcome of the polls instead of resorting to inciting the people to protest.
Onanuga opposed Obi’s allegation that the presidential election was rigged, insisting that it was free, fair, and credible.
The APC chieftain further asked the LP presidential candidate to be ready to also tell the world how he secured over 90 percent of the votes cast in South East, noting that APC had evidence of voter’s intimidation, suppression, and harassment against them in the South East.
According to Onanuga: “We welcome the decision of Mr Obi to seek redress in court as an aggrieved party if he is convinced of the evidences of electoral frauds he will present before the tribunal as alleged. Going to court is part of the electoral process and it is the most decent, statesmanlike and civilised course of action to take.
“It is because the process was credible that made it possible for Obi’s Labour Party to record the over six million votes it got contrary to pre-election forecast. That Labour Party and Obi surprised bookmakers by winning in Lagos, Nasarawa, Plateau, Delta and Edo states where there are sitting governors of either the APC or the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),” Onanuga also explained.
“We believe that the Labour Party presidential candidate contradicted himself and exposed himself by suggesting that the election was only credible in states and places his party won. We need to forewarn Obi, that when he gets to court he should be prepared to tell the world how his party won over 90 per cent of votes in his region of South-East while other parties got almost nothing.”
“We have evidence of voters’ suppression, intimidation and harassment in South-East, especially of those who came out to vote for our party.“
He maintained that Obi did not win the election.
“This is because he had no path to winning a national election in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society like Nigeria. Where a candidate running in a national election must appeal to the cross-section of our pluralistic society,’’ he stated.
