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BY: News Peddlers
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| Bola Tnubu and Peter Obi |
The All Progressives Congress says it is prepared to challenge Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi in court over his claim of fraud in the February 25 presidential election. According to the report, there is evidence of electoral violations against Mr Obi's party in the South-East.
Bayo Onanuga, the APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCCdirector )'s of media and publicity, said this in a statement on Thursday in response to Mr Obi's remarks at a news conference in Abuja.
"We welcome the decision of Mr Obi to seek redress in court as an aggrieved party if he is convinced of the evidences of electoral frauds he will present before the tribunal as alleged. Going to court is part of the electoral process, and it is the most decent, statesmanlike, and civilised course of action," Mr Onanuga said, noting that it is preferable to rallying supporters and inciting social unrest.
He did, however, challenge some specific claims in Obi's press address, claiming that, contrary to his assertion, the election was not free and fair.
"It is because the process was credible that made it possible for Obi's Labour Party to record the over six million votes it got contrary to pre-election forecast. "The Labour Party and Obi surprised bookmakers by winning in Lagos, Nasarawa, Plateau, Delta, and Edo states where either the APC or the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has a sitting governor," the statement explained.
He went on to say that the Labour Party also swept the five South-East states controlled by the APGA, PDP, or APC.
"We believe the Labour Party presidential candidate contradicted himself and exposed himself by claiming that the election was only credible in states and places won by his party. "We need to warn Obi that when he gets to court, he should be prepared to tell the world how his party received over 90% of the votes in his South-East region while other parties received almost nothing," Mr Onanuga said. "In the South-East, we have evidence of voter suppression, intimidation, and harassment, particularly of those who came out to vote for our party."
Mr Obi did not win the presidential election, he said.
"This is because he had no chance of winning a national election in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society like Nigeria. In a national election, a candidate must appeal to a cross-section of our pluralistic society," he said.
(NAN)