Nigeria: Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, 2nd and 3rd in the presidential election, contest the ballot
Peter Obi, February 25, 2025. AP - Mosa'ab Elshamy
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
In the aftermath of Bola Tinubu's election as Nigeria's president, the opposition is getting into battle order to contest a poll that they say is marred by irregularity.
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With our correspondent in Lagos,
Liza Fabbian
Nigeria's two main opponents have no words harsh enough for the Independent Electoral Commission, accused of maneuvering to
bring the APC's Bola Tinubu to power
.
Atiku Abubakar of the People's Democratic Party and Peter Obi of the Labor Party both spoke on Thursday to denounce a flawed process and announce that they would take legal action.
Peter Obi, officially in third place, even asserts that he won the presidential election.
"
I believe that if you want to be called 'Your Excellency', then the process that brought you to power must be excellent.
And I want to assure the Nigerian people that we will explore all legal and peaceful options to regain our mandate.
We won the elections, and we are going to prove it to Nigerians
,” he said.
A little later in the day, Atiku Abubakar took the floor.
He, too, said his lawyers were working towards an appeal.
"
The dreams and aspirations of Nigerians have been shattered because of the attitude of the Electoral Commission which has totally failed to meet their expectations,"
he said.
The elections this weekend were neither free nor fair.
It was a violation of democracy.
»
For his part, the elected president Bola Tinubu displays a willingly unifying attitude.
He "
reached out
" to his opponents and invited them to "
work with [him]
".
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