Peter Obi, a newcomer to Nigeria’s presidential race who has garnered the support of the country’s urban youth, finished third in last Saturday’s election, according to official results from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Now, however, he claims victory and says he will contest the ballot.
“We won the elections and we are going to prove it to Nigerians”, declared this Thursday Peter Obi, in a press conference where he spoke for the first time since the weekend. “I want to assure all Nigerians that we will explore all peaceful and legal options to claim our mandate,” he said, quoted by Reuters agency.
The presidential elections on Saturday gave victory to Bola Tinubu, from the Progressive Congress, the party currently in power. But the official announcement of the results was only made on Wednesday and the entire vote counting process was involved in controversy and suspicions of fraud. On Tuesday, the three main opposition parties denounced “tampered and manipulated” results.
According to official data, Tinubu obtained 36.6% of the votes nationally and fulfilled the requirements to be President: he surpassed the other candidates and obtained at least 25% of the vote in two thirds of the 36 states of Nigeria and in the capital, Abuja. Atiku Abubakar scored 29.1% and Obi scored 25.4%, winning in Lagos, the country’s most populous city.
“Nigeria’s good working people have again been robbed by our so-called leaders,” accused Obi, who, according to Reuters, declined to show proof of what he said but promised to present it in court. The candidate in second place, Atiku Abubakar, of the People’s Democratic Party, also came in the meantime to say that he will take the election results to court.
Also this Thursday, INEC, in a statement, rejected that the digital tools it used for the first time in this vote were intended to adulterate the final result. European Union observers warned that there were many technical flaws in the computer system used in the ballot and criticized the commission for poor planning and communication, but there were no allegations of fraud.