Governor Abubakar Bello of Niger state has said the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar is only wasting his resources by going to court to challenge outcome of the presidential elections organised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The governor said this while fielding questions from State House correspondents after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
He said the conduct and outcome of the presidential poll were emphatic enough to make the opposition accept them in good faith.
“It’s not unusual, when you lose elections, you go to court for so many reasons. It could be that you think you won or it could be that someone is telling you that you’ve won or it could be that someone is telling you some miracles can happen.
“It could also be that someone wants to get money off you. So there is no reason why after a free and fair elections have been conducted and it’s clear in the eyes of the world, one still believes that there is a shoddy dealing.
“Anyone who feels dissatisfied is free to approach a court of law. It’s a free world, everyone is entitled to his opinion. But honestly, from what I saw in Niger, this election has been the fairest election we have conducted so far,” he said.
The governor commended Nigerians, the Independent National Electoral Commission and security agencies for a peaceful conduct of the presidential, National Assembly, governorship and State Assemblies elections.
He said the way and manger the electoral body conducted the polls reflect their independence and capability in managing elections.
“I think INEC did extremely well, the security agencies did very well as well. It is not unusual when you hold elections in a country like Nigeria where you have so many units to have issues with one or two units. If you look at the number of polling units, compare to the ones that have issues, probably, it’s less than two or five percent. But generally, the elections went well,” he said.
