The Labour Party ( LP) on Friday expressed worries over the statement credited to President where he said that the opposition parties lost the 2023 presidential election because of their “overconfidence, complacency and bad tactical moves.
The Acting National Publicity Secretary of the party, Obiora Ifoh on Friday described the statement as “ worrisome and disturbing”, coming from the highest office in the land.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, had asserted that while the APC was working hard to retain power in the recent elections, the combined opposition was busy telling their foreign backers that they would defeat the APC.
The statement had also drawn the ire of the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP), which called for a global sanction, including travel ban on the President, after the May 29, handover.
The Labour Party Spokesman in his reaction pointed out that his position on the outcome of the said election was false, untrue, adding that “ 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 loose election because of over confidence 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 result from the collation centres using security agencies, which included police, army amongst others as well as thugs to manipulate elections in favour of the ruling party.
“Recently, we saw the show of shame that took place in Adamawa. What played out in Adamawa was a microcosym of what played out in all over the states during February 25 and March 18 elections in Nigerian. Why the case of Adamawa was given huge publicity and attention was because of the involvement of an INEC National commissioner who was a victim, thus forcing INEC to take prompt action. From Lagos to Rivers, from north to southern parts of the country, all over, violence characterised that election. In most cases, some agents and supporters were not allowed access to the polling units.
“All of these put together, do they amount to over confidence and complacency on the part of the opposition party? It shows that the President who promised Nigerians that he was going to give Nigerians a free, fair and credible election simply failed in his duty in giving Nigerians the election they deserved.
The LP described the 2023 general election as “ the worst election the country ever had since the current republic; since 1999 to date. The 2023 general election is the worst ever as reported by virtually all the international observers and communities. In fact, the election took Nigeria back to the days of First and Second republics where political thugs, where violence and thuggery characterised politics and election.
“So Mr. President is completely wrong. I believe that he was ill advised. It was erroneous for him to say that opposition parties lost election because of over confidence. In fact, Labour Party won the election but it was brazenly stolen by APC. Mr. President is aware of the fact that APC did not win the election and that it was stolen”.
