The battle to retrieve “the real outcome” of the February 25 presidential election will be sustained by Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, his media aides said on Friday. Atiku, a former vice president of Nigeria, recently inaugurated a 19‑member legal team headed by Joe‑Kyari Gadzama to challenge the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) declaration of Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner.
Saturday reported that INEC declared Tinubu the victor with 8,794,726 votes, ahead of Atiku’s 6,984,520, Peter Obi’s 6,101,533, and Rabiu Kwankwaso’s 1,496,687. The latter three represent the PDP, Labour Party, and New Nigeria People’s Party, respectively.
Speaking with Saturday on Friday, the former vice president’s media adviser, Paul Ibe, said the decision to contest the presidential result stems from a desire to strengthen Nigeria’s democracy, not from Atiku’s personal interest. He asserted that his principal will pursue the case to the end, citing what he called “INEC’s breach of its own rules and guidelines.” Ibe stressed that the era of tolerating impunity in the country is over. “Has the real outcome of the exercise been shown to the people? Nigerians at home and abroad were excited about a technologically driven election this year,” he asked.
Before the vote, mock tests were conducted on the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), and INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu expressed optimism that BVAS would be a game‑changer. “If billions of naira were released for the procurement of BVAS, shouldn’t Nigerians question why the device was compromised during the election? If the results announced by Yakubu were not uploaded on INEC’s viewing portal, won’t the commission explain what happened? These are the issues we are talking about today,” Ibe said.
Special Adviser to Atiku Abubakar on Public Communications, Phrank Shaibu, added that anyone expecting the PDP standard‑bearer to abandon the legal route must remember that the whole effort is about getting things right for the country.
Comments are closed for this story.