The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar, on Monday led a protest match to the Abuja headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The protests was against alleged electoral fraud in the just concluded 2023 presidential and National Assembly elections held on February 25.
Atiku arrived at Legacy House, the presidential campaign headquarters of the PDP where he joined other PDP leaders who had gathered at the premises for the protest.
The group, thereafter, proceeded to the headquarters of the INEC, in order to register their displeasure.
Joined in the march were the PDP National Chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu and other members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC).
Also joining the protest were the chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), Senator Adolphus Wabara; Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal; Chief Raymond Dokpesi; and former Adamawa State Governor, Boni Haruna among other chieftains.
The APC candidate, Bola Tinubu polled 8,794,726 votes and was declared President-Elect on Wednesday by INEC.
The former Lagos State governor came out tops in 12 of Nigeria’s 36 states, and secured significant numbers in several other states to claim the highest number of votes — 8,794,726, almost two million votes more than his closest rival — former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the PDP.
Atiku, 76, got 6,984,520 votes, while Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), finished the race with 6,101,533.
Atiku, on Thursday, slammed INEC over the conduct of the elections, saying the umpire’s inability to upload results on IReV was a “rape of democracy”.
“The weekend election was neither free nor fair. Preliminary assessments indicate that it is the worst conducted elections since the return to democratic rule. The manipulation and fraud that attended this election were unprecedented in the history of our nation,” the former vice president said.
He vowed to challenge the outcome of the election and believes the judiciary will do justice to the matter.
“Having consulted with leaders of our party and Nigerians from different walks of life, I have come to the conclusion that the processes and outcome of the Presidential and National Assembly election of last Saturday were grossly flawed in every material particular, and as such must be challenged. This has been attested to by both local and international observers,” he said.