The Former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar has expressed his displeasure with regard to the just concluded Presidential elections which he said clearly shows manifest and premeditated malpractices in many states which negate the results announced.
According to Atiku who took to twitter to express his displeasure and disappointment, “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? One obvious red flag is the statistical impossibility of states ravaged by the war on terror generating much higher voter turnouts than peaceful states”.
“I am 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. Consequently, I hereby reject the result of the February 23, 2019 sham election and will be challenging it in court”.
He noted with disappointment the glaring anomaly in the disruption of voting in strongholds of the People’s Democratic Party in Lagos, Akwa-Ibom, Rivers and diverse other states, with the authorities doing little or nothing and in some cases facilitating these unfortunate situations.
Atiku said in Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Imo states, troops deployed for the elections turned their guns on the very citizens they were meant to protect.
“The militarisation of the electoral process is a disservice to our democracy and a throwback to the jackboot era of military dictatorship. This is condemnable and should not be associated with our electoral process in the future”.
“However, in my democratic struggles for the past three decades, I have never seen our democracy so debased as it was on Saturday, February 23, 2019”.
“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”.
Atiku thanked his supporters and all Nigerians who trooped out in their millions to perform their civic duty this on Saturday.
He added that the patriotism of Nigerians as heartwarming and affirms his oft-repeated statement that “we are brothers and sisters born from the womb of one mother Nigeria”, while assuring that “we will not allow democracy to be emasculated”.
“2007 was a challenge, but President Yar’Adua was remorseful. In 2019, it is sad to see those who trampled on democracy thumping their noses down on the Nigerian people”.
“I hope and pray Nigerians will someday summon the courage to defend democracy. That is the only way we can move away from being the world headquarters for extreme poverty”, he said.
Story by: Theresa Igata
