Having polled a total of 15,191,847 votes to defeat his closest rival, Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) who scored 11,262,978 votes, President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Wednesday in Abuja received a Certificate of Return from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Buhari was declared winner of the February 23, 2019 Presidential election in the early hours of Wednesday having attained the highest number of votes cast as well as at least a quarter of the votes at each of at least two-thirds of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Mahmood Yakubu, INEC chairman and returning officer for the election, presented the certificate to Buhari, president-elect, who was invited to sign and collect the certificate by Yemi Osinbajo, vice president and vice president-elect.
Speaking after he received the certificate, Buhari appealed to Nigerians to stand united since “election is not war”, urging all citizens, going forward, to stand in brotherhood for a bright and fulfilling future.
While thanking the over 15 million citizens who voted for him and condoling with families who lost loved ones in the electoral violence, he assured Nigerians that they would soon see “a country moving to the Next Level” as the APC-led administration consolidates on its fundamental areas of securing the country, reviving the economy, and fighting corruption.
“Our government will remain inclusive and our doors will remain open. That is the way to build the country of our dream; safe, secure, prosperous, and free of impunity and primitive accumulation by those entrusted with public offices,” Buhari said.
“The hard work to deliver a better Nigeria continues, building on the foundations of peace, rule of law and opportunities for all. We will roll up our sleeves afresh, and give it our all. We have no other motive than to serve Nigeria with our hearts and might, and build a nation which we and generations to come can be proud of,” he said.
But while it is jubilation in the Buhari camp, it is a sad moment for the opposition. Atiku Abubakar of the PDP and Buhari’s closest rival at the just-concluded presidential election formally rejected the outcome of the polls.
Atiku trailed Buhari by almost 4 million votes, winning in 17 states and the FCT while Buhari won in 19 states. The 71 other candidates got 1.38 million votes combined.
In a 17-page document sent out early Wednesday morning, Atiku said he would have conceded defeat and even helped to build a better Nigeria if the polls were free, fair and credible and not marred by the level of violence, thuggery and outright vote rigging that was witnessed by local and international observers.
“Consequently, I hereby reject the outcome of the February 16, 2019 elections and will be challenging it in court,” Atiku said in the statement.
He called the results a sham, said Nigeria’s democracy cannot be put to an all-time ridicule as was seen during last Saturday’s election, thanked Nigerians for trooping out to participate in the elections, and called on citizens and his supporters to be calm while the judicial process takes effect.
Also in his first press conference after his defeat, Atiku pleaded with international investors not to divest following Buhari’s re-election, lamenting the loss of N85 billion at the Nigerian Stock Exchange market as a result of the election.
“And to the international investors and friends of Nigeria now pulling out of our country, I urge you to be patient and keep faith with the Nigerian people,” Atiku said.
“Your quarrel is not with the Nigerian people, your quarrel is with those who stole their mandate. Please, do not punish people by divesting from Nigeria,” he said.
This is even as the Young Progressive Party (YPP) has condemned the irregularities that marred the Presidential election, stressing that it was rigged in favour of the ruling APC.
In a statement on Wednesday by Egbeola Wale Martins, its national publicity secretary, YPP said it was sad that the just concluded elections, which postponement cost the nation about N500 billion, ought to have been an improvement on that of 2015 but may end up lacking in credibility on account of the widespread irregularities and violence recorded in many parts of Nigeria.
On its part, Alliance for Defence of Democracy (ADD), an amalgam of allied political parties and interest groups, rejected the results of the Presidential and National Assembly elections as announced by INEC, stressing that INEC collation officers reeled out manufactured and doctored figures against coalition candidates.
Olubori Isah Obafemi, director of publicity, ADD, said in a statement, Wednesday, that the ADD, acting on the “emerging facts from the Situation Room of our third force Coalition”, the ADD leadership was compelled to express strong condemnation “for the obvious and glaring collusion between INEC collation officers and influential state/political forces in the various collation centres of INEC across the country”.
Obafemi added that from the reports of the group’s field vigilantes, credible news media and some INEC officials, it was clear that there had been a strategic collusion among some state agents, political gladiators and some unscrupulous officials of INEC, which led to subverting of the will of the electorate by manipulating, doctoring, concocting, manufacturing and allocating imaginary votes and figures contrary to the actual votes cast in the various constituencies where elections were held or not held during last Saturday’s elections.
“We hereby announce our unflinching resolve to resist this dastardly acts of the Nigerian ruling class and hereby direct all fresh breed, third force political parties to immediately boycott the remaining part of the ongoing collation process of INEC by staging a popular walkout from all INEC collation centres since the ongoing electoral process has been heavily compromised and lost every credibility to achieve the raison d’etre for which the 2019 election was conducted and we cannot continue to legitimise a blatantly compromised electoral process,” Obafemi said.
ONYINYE NWACHUKWU, TONY AILEMEN, INNOCENT ODOH & OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja
