Few hour after President Muhammadu Buhari was declared winner of 2019 presidential election, his main challenger and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has rejected the outcome.
Already, the former vice President has concluded plans to challenge the outcome of the election.
Atiku in statement he personally signed Wednesday morning described the election as a “sham”.
He thanked the Nigerian people who trooped out in their millions to perform their civic duty last Saturday.
Atiku 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 further stated: “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?
The former vice president also alleged that another glaring anomaly was the disruption of voting in strongholds of the PDP in Lagos, Akwa-Ibom, Rivers and other diverse states, with the authorities doing little or nothing and in some cases facilitating these unfortunate situations.
According to him: “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’m 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.
“Consequently, I hereby reject the result of the February 23, 2019 sham election and will be challenging it in court.”
He assured his supporters and the entire Nigerian people that they would not allow democracy to be emasculated.
