The Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organisation (PDP PCO) has said the victory of the All Progressives Congres (APC) and its presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, must not be allowed to stand.
Speaking with newsmen in Abuja on Wednesday, the Director of Planning and Strategy of the PDP PCC, Don Pedro Obaseki, described Tinubu’s victory as an electoral heist that must not be rejected.
Obaseki said the 2023 presidential election was indeed brazenly rigged beyond all known ethics and ramifications, describing the February 25 poll as the most dastardly skewed election in the history of the country.
The PDP chieftain claimed that the PDP and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, were the first-degree victims of the “manipulated election”.
He said: “We have gone through a round of the most dastardly skewed election in the history of this country, I don’t want to say since the return to democracy. It is an accepted fact that this election was indeed brazenly rigged beyond all known ethics and ramifications.
“However, what is a little bit disturbing in the media space, particularly in the social media space, is that the election was stolen. But from whom was it stolen?
“There must be a frontline, primary victim of the theft. The first-degree victim of that is my party and presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
“Secondly, we are aware that in Nigeria since 1960 at independence and since we became a Republic in 1963, no court has upturned even the most brazen election before now. All those elections pale in comparison to what befell Nigerians in 2023.”
Judiciary Must Save Nigeria
Obaseki explained that it is important that the Nigerian judiciary must be put on notice that the essence of the Nigerian state is at stake as a result of the party’s petition before the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal.
He stated that whatever decision the Justices of the Supreme Court and all those involved in the process of adjudication in this electoral matter must take into account the spirit and the letter of the constitution.
Obaseki said: “The onus lies upon them to look at both the spirit and letters of the law and the very marginalized feelings of every Nigerian and do what is right and correct in the public domain so as to save this country and the sanctity of our commonwealth.
“They must understand that the 2023 presidential election tribunal proceeding is not just the petitioner and the respondent that are on trial. It is the Nigerian judiciary that is on trial.
“This is why I called my friends (in the media) those who are the Fourth Estate of the Realm and those who must be the forebearers of the conscience of this country so that we begin to talk and not be dwarfed in the noise of the theft and the real election results, not the ones that Mahmood Yakubu announced.
“And the implications therefrom of the commission’s official position that has been taken by Mahmood Yakubu in pronouncing the APC presidential flag bearer the winner of the election.
“I was in the very fulcrum, the very engine room. I was in charge of strategy, from drafting to curating and monitoring the elections from all the 176,000 plus polling units across the country.
“I know who won not only because the person is my principal but because the truth must be told. We can no longer continue in this blatant disregard of our people.”
