The Labour Party has tackled President Buhari over his position on the outcome of the February 25 presidential election, claiming that Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) did not win the election.
Buhari was quoted in a statement by his media aide, Garba Shehu, on Thursday as saying that “overconfidence, complacency and bad tactical moves created problems for the opposition in the election.
The President’s comments have not gone down well with the opposition parties, with the Peoples Democratic Party earlier calling on the international community to impose a visa ban on the Nigerian leader.
In its statement in reply to the President, LP’s Acting National Secretary, Obiorah Ifoh, said Buhari’s “position on the outcome of the said election was false, untrue, and it is not a true reflection of what played out during the election”. “There are several reasons why opposition political parties lost the 2023 election; the first is that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC snubbed the electoral act wherein it failed to upload the result from the polling unit in real time as promised and in disregard to the laws guiding the election. The INEC by so doing, created room for that election to be rigged,” the Friday statement read.
It further claimed the “current APC president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu didn’t win the election, because the said election, particularly, the presidential election was manipulated and rigged beyond comprehension. So political parties didn’t lose the election because of overconfidence or complacency as proffered by Mr. President. APC in collaboration with the various government agencies simply rigged the election and rigged themselves into power.