Diran Onifade, Head of Media and Communications for the Obi‑Datti Presidential Campaign Council, spoke with Ayoola Olasupo about the fallout from the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections. When asked whether the party’s disagreement with the declaration of All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as president could still be overturned, Onifade affirmed confidence in the legal process. “The law states that if you have genuine reasons to believe you were cheated, you should go to the tribunal,” he said. “We have a case, we will argue it before the judges, and we are optimistic they will see the reasons because we believe we were cheated. Justice is a condition for peace; injustice leads to its breakdown.”
Onifade criticized the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for not following its own rules, arguing that the scores at polling units were not the figures used to declare the winner. “Every party has its own results, and the numbers used in the collation were different,” he explained. “We have seen copies of results online that were tampered with. The voting was fine, but the collation was a mess because of gaps left by INEC.” He noted that while the APC, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Labour Party (LP) all claim victory, the irregularities give the LP confidence in its case.
Regarding allegations of result manipulation raised by Labour Party spokesperson Ndi Kato, Onifade confirmed that the results submitted by each party’s polling agents differed from those used by INCE. “We all saw it,” he said, adding that the discrepancies were evident on the internet and that the collation process was fundamentally flawed.
On the historic rarity of a Supreme Court nullifying a presidential election in Nigeria, Onifade argued that “there is always a first time.” He cited Peter Obi’s successful legal challenge to his impeachment as governor as an example of the courts overturning past injustices. “The evidence this time is overwhelming; the world saw it. This was daylight robbery,” he asserted.
Addressing claims that Obi could not win because of limited support in the North, Onifade dismissed the argument as a “permutation” and highlighted the narrow margin—about two million votes—between Obi and the declared winner. “How does someone without a structure come that close to the APC and PDP in a national election?” he asked, noting that the Labour Party defeated the “godfather of Lagos politics” in Lagos, a feat the establishment could not tamper with. He described the alleged “structure” of the ruling parties as a criminal network that seeks to hoard resources belonging to over 200 million Nigerians.
When questioned about INEC’s failure to upload results, Onifade suggested deliberate sabotage rather than a technical glitch. “In this day and age, the same network handles far more traffic without issue. The technology worked for House and Senate results but not for the presidential tally. We are not fools,” he said.
Onifade praised the overall conduct of the election, calling it “the best in Nigeria’s history” up to the point of collation. Voters were better informed and officials well prepared, but the failure to upload polling‑unit results to the portal undermined the process. He criticized INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu for not reviewing the results as promised, noting that the promised Bimodal Voter Accreditation System never delivered its expected impact.
Regarding the Labour Party’s post‑election strategy, Onifade confirmed that Peter Obi has already met with newly elected senators and representatives, and that this engagement will continue. He also addressed reports that the party hired about 25 Senior Advocates of Nigeria to challenge Tinubu’s emergence, stating that the lawyers themselves should answer whether they are working pro bono. “It is consistent with their professional duties, and there is nothing fishy about it,” he concluded.
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