President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling All Progressives Congress have come under fire from the opposition for celebrating what they called the 2023 electoral heist, which is still being contested at the Presidential Election Tribunal.
President Buhari's assertions that the opposition lost the general elections of 2023 as a result of arrogance and a lack of planning, according to Hon. Debo Ologunagba, national publicity secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, was not only regrettable, reckless, and unpresidential, but also illegal. This was stated by Ologunagba on Friday in Abuja during a press conference.
He clarified that the President's remark is already raising concerns and has the potential to endanger Nigeria's corporate existence as a country.
"As you are aware, the February 25, 2023, Presidential election has been judged throughout the nation and internationally as the worst in our country's history," the PDP spokesman said.
“The Presidential election was marred by brazen violation of the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), the Electoral Act, 2022, INEC Regulations and Guidelines; manipulation of processes, alteration of genuine results from Polling Units, the announcement of fabricated figures and climaxed by the vexatious declaration of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the winner.
“The general despondency, resentment and anger across our country; the damning reports by election observers and the pervading international contempt against Nigeria since the declaration of the APC candidate as President-elect are ominous testaments that he does not have the mandate of majority of Nigerians derivable only from a credible electoral process.
“Nigerians and the International Community are therefore appalled, horrified and scandalized by the careless, unguarded and subjudice comment by President Buhari in which he attempted to justify the rigging of the February 25, 2023 Presidential election by the APC under his watch.â€
Speaking further, he claimed that the President's remarks demonstrate his complete disregard for the judiciary, our system of constitutional democracy, and the will of the Nigerian people as expressed on February 25, 2023, in the presidential election.
“It is, to say the least, reprehensible for Mr. President to posture and gloat over the trampling of the will of Nigerians, blame the opposition for being overconfident and, according to him, for not being “tacticalâ€, perhaps enough to outwit the violence, brutality, threats, suppression of voters, rigging and election manipulations by the APC and the government which he heads.
“It is unpardonable that President Buhari, who swore to uphold the laws of our country and made several commitments to the world to ensure free, fair, credible and transparent election, is rather in approval of election rigging through manifest compromise of INEC system and wide-spread alteration, falsification and switching of election results in favor of his rejected party, the APC.
“President Buhari is practically gloating over the undermining of democracy by INEC which refused to transmit directly results from the Polling Units to its Server/Website and announce same, in total violation of the express provisions of Section 64 Sub-section 4 (a) (b) of the Electoral Act, 2022.
Ologunagba further said, “It is instructive to state that part of the electoral process is the adjudication by the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal which is considering petitions arising from the election. President Buhari, by his sub judice statement is clearly interfering in the electoral process ostensibly to influence the outcome and undermine the constitutionally laid down procedures for change of government.
“Having clearly undermined democracy in Nigeria, the PDP calls on the international community to accordingly impose sanctions including visa bans and travel restrictions on President Buhari and his family immediately he vacates office on May 29, 2023.
Similar sentiments were expressed by Dr. Yunusa Tanko, chief spokesperson for the Labour Party's presidential campaign, who said the Buhari administration should hang its head in shame for trying to defend a blatant attempt to steal the people's mandate. Despite having benefited from a free and fair election in 2015, this administration has failed in every aspect of governance. Is the lack of strategy he refers to our party's refusal to join the APC in "snatching, grabbing, and running away with power using violence and intimidation" what he means?
“Nigerians are today more divided than any time in our history, farmers can no longer go to their farms because they are being attacked by bandits, the economy is in shambles-Nigeria under Buhari’s watch attained the inglorious position as the world’s poverty capital, yet what he is concerned about is how to defend the indefensible. It’s unfortunate.â€
Additionally, the party's acting national publicity secretary, Obiora Ifoh, referred to the president's views as being unpresidential and disturbing in a statement he made yesterday in Abuja. Mallam Garba Shehu is the president's senior special assistant for media.
“He noted that the President’s statement was another desperate attempt by the ruling party to seek validation for the electoral fraud which it now celebrates as a victory. “Ifoh said, “We want to point it out clearly to President Muhammadu Buhari that his position on the outcome of the said election was untrue, and it is not a true reflection of what played out during the election.
““There are several reasons why opposition political parties lost the 2023 election; the first is that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC snubbed the electoral act wherein it failed to upload the result from the polling unit in real time as promised and in disregard to the laws guiding the election. The INEC by so doing, created room for that election to be rigged. ““Again, the current APC president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu didn’t win the election, because the said election, particularly, the presidential election was manipulated and rigged beyond comprehension.
““So, political parties didn’t lose election because of overconfidence or complacency as proffered by Mr President, APC in collaboration with the various government agencies simply rigged the election and rigged themselves into power.““Let me remind Mr President of the magnitude of violence, ballot snuffing, snatching and manipulations of results from the collation centers using security agencies, which included police, army amongst others as well as thugs to manipulate elections in favor of the ruling party.
““Recently, we saw the show of shame that took place in Adamawa. What played out in Adamawa was a microcosm of what played out all over the states during the February 25 and March 18 elections in Nigeria. ““Why the case of Adamawa was given huge publicity and attention because of the involvement of an INEC National commissioner who was a victim, thus forcing INEC to take prompt action.