Atiku heads to court over Nigeria’s election results

Atiku Abubakar will be seeking legal redress after disputing Nigeria’s presidential election in which Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has been re-elected for a second four-year term.

Mr Abubakar said the election was a “sham” and “will be challenging it in court.”

President Buhari defeated Atiku by a margin of almost four million votes but Mr Abubakar’s People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has rejected the result of the election in which the turnout was 35.6%.

Mr Abubakar in a statement released on Wednesday said: “with regards to the Presidential elections that took place on February 23, 2019, it is clear that there were manifest and premeditated malpractices in many states which negate the results announced.”

He also complained about the “militarization of the electoral process” which he said was a “disservice to our democracy and a throwback to the jackboot era of military dictatorship.”

“In some areas of the country, such as Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Imo states, troops deployed for the elections turned their guns on the very citizens they were meant to protect. This is condemnable and should not be associated with our electoral process in the future.”

The election was marred by a week’s delay and violence on the day of the polls.

President Buhari’s All Progressives Congress (APC) won in 19 of the 36 states while the PDP was victorious in 17 states and in the capital, Abuja, according to Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral (INEC).

The APC got 15.2 million votes while the PDP received 11.3 million.

Find below the full statement.

Democracy Will Not Be Emasculated in Nigeria

I thank the Nigerian people who trooped out in their millions to perform their civic duty this past Saturday. The patriotism of Nigerians is heartwarming and affirms my oft-repeated statement that we are brothers and sisters born from the womb of one mother Nigeria.

With regards to the Presidential elections that took place on February 23, 2019, it is clear that there were manifest and premeditated malpractices in many states which negate the results announced.

One obvious red flag is the statistical impossibility of states ravaged by the war on terror generating much higher voter turnouts than peaceful states. The suppressed votes in my strongholds are so apparent and amateurish, that I am ashamed as a Nigerian that such could be allowed to happen. How can total votes in Akwa-Ibom, for instance, be 50% less than what they were in 2015?

Another glaring anomaly is the disruption of voting in strongholds of the Peoples Democratic Party in Lagos, Akwa-Ibom, Rivers and diverse other states, with the authorities doing little or nothing and in some cases facilitating these unfortunate situations.

The militarization of the electoral process is a disservice to our democracy and a throwback to the jackboot era of military dictatorship. In some areas of the country, such as, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Imo states, troops deployed for the elections turned their guns on the very citizens they were meant to protect. This is condemnable and should not be associated with our electoral process in the future.

I am a democrat and there are democratic avenues available to present the truth to the nation and the watching world. Already, many international observers have given their verdicts, which corroborate our observations. I am sure more will come in the coming hours and days.

If I had lost in a free and fair election, I would have called the victor within seconds of my being aware of his victory to offer not just my congratulations, but my services to help unite Nigeria by being a bridge between the North and the South.

However, in my democratic struggles for the past three decades, I have never seen our democracy so debased as it was on Saturday, February 23, 2019. 2007 was a challenge, but President Yar’Adua was remorseful. In 2019, it is sad to see those who trampled on democracy thumping their noses down on the Nigerian people.

Consequently, I hereby reject the result of the February 23, 2019 sham election and will be challenging it in court.

I want to assure my supporters and the entire Nigerian people that together, we will not allow democracy to be emasculated.

I hope and pray Nigerians will someday summon the courage to defend democracy. That is the only way we can move away from being the world headquarters for extreme poverty.

Signed:
Waziri Atiku Abubakar
27th February 2019