2023 Presidential poll: You lost woefully — FG tells opposition parties

The fireworks over the true winner of the 2023 presidential election continued yesterday between the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the two main opposition parties, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP).

The Federal Government had sparked fresh trouble yesterday when it described the opposition attacking President Muhammadu Buhari over his recent comment on the 2023 presidential elections as “shameless sore losers”.

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, had said the President’s analysis on the reasons for the opposition’s loss in the 2023 elections was incontrovertible.

In a statement by his media aide, Segun Adeyemi, the minister reiterated the position of the President that the opposition  lost due to overconfidence, complacency and bad tactical moves.

“Opposition’s overconfidence going into the election stemmed in part from the blitzkrieg of social media propaganda as well as faulty and procured opinion polls. These were apparently meant to hoodwink their foreign backers and a section of the international media into uncritically reporting that they were coasting home to victory, when they were indeed heading into the ravine of defeat,” he said

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Mohammed advised the opposition to stop their endless griping over the polls which they lost, adding the president deserves accolades for delivering the best election in Nigeria’s history.

According to Mohammed, the presidential candidate of the  APC, Bola Tinubu, won the presidential election fair and square, clinching the majority of the votes cast.

He added that Tinubu surpassed the constitutionally-stipulated 25 per cent of votes cast in each of at least two-thirds of all the states in the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, while none of the opposition parties met that benchmark.

Mohammed referred the opposition to the conclusion by Mr Johnnie Carson, the US diplomat, that the APC candidate “undoubtedly won the polls”.

He also cited the report of the African Union Election Observation Mission to Nigeria that said the atmosphere was generally calm and peaceful in 95 per cent of the polling units visited.

The minister slammed the opposition “for continuously seeking to mislead the world by clutching at the weak straw that results were not immediately uploaded onto the IReV Portal.”

Responding, the PDP through its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, said the party had made it clear that history will judge President Muhammadu Buhari, over the poor conduct of the 2023 general elections.

In a statement, he  claimed  the Federal Government was seeking to blackmail, bully and intimidate  the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.

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The statement read in part: “Nigerians are invited to note that Lai Mohammed’s comment is coming after President Muhammadu Buhari made similar subjudice comment in his widely condemned attempt to justify the rigging of the Presidential election, which case is pending before the Tribunal.

“It is indeed appalling that Lai Mohammed could attempt to defend the outcome of a fraudulently conducted election which has been adjudged as the worst in the history of elections in Nigeria and which has attracted nationwide and international outrage against the Buhari administration.

“By stating that President Buhari deserved ‘accolades’ for conducting a globally condemned Presidential election and describing well-meaning Nigerians as ‘shameless sore losers’, Lai Mohammed has further confirmed the complicity of the Buhari administration, in which he serves as mouthpiece, in one of the most reprehensible election swindles in the history of democracy. 

“The PDP is however not surprised that Lai Mohammed will continue in the trajectory of the Buhari-led APC administration which is notorious for lying, deceit and falsehood.

“Nigerians are aware that by the authentic results obtained from the Polling Units, Atiku Abubakar and not the APC candidate met all the conditions stipulated for the winning of Presidential election; the reason the compromised Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) refused to transmit directly and announce results as obtained from the Polling Units as required by law.

“The facts of the rigging of the February 25, 2023 Presidential election are well known to Nigerians and the PDP will not relent until it reclaims its mandate at the Tribunal.”

Also, in a statement, yesterday,  acting National Publicity Secretary of the LP, Obiora Ifo described as “hearth-wrenching to hear the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, still progressing with that warped, illogical and incongruous concept.”

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He said APC has murdered sleep by continuing to insist that the 2023 presidential election which was massively rigged was free, fair and credible

His words: “It is only the blind that will continue to insist that the 2023 presidential election which was massively rigged was free, fair and credible. As we have said earlier, the opposition political parties lost the election because the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC jettisoned the electoral act, having not uploaded the result from the polling unit in real time as promised and in so doing, created room for riggers to have a field day.

“The election witnessed unprecedented magnitude of violence, ballot snuffing, snatching and manipulations of result from the collation centres using thugs, security agencies, which included police, army amongst others.

“All these issues and a lot more were captured, well documented and have been taken to the appeal tribunal and the matters are on going. Mr. Lai Mohammed need not preempt the tribunal as his actions are contemptuous and could be used against him.”

Meanwhile, President of Middle Belt Forum (MBF), Dr. Pogu Bitrus, has disagreed with the minister’s position, saying he should instead advise the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to do the right thing and produce the real results of the poll.

He wondered why Lai Mohammed should be giving such advice to the opposition parties when it was his party, the APC, that was telling those that were not satisfied with the result to go to court.

“So, INEC and their candidate should better be prepared because everything that transpired during the election will be exposed and that will be good for Nigeria and democracy. People like Lai Mohammed, who don’t believe in democracy but autocracy or feudalism, should better come to the reality that we are in a democracy, a constitutional democracy for that matter”, he said.

But, for the president of Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF), Alhaji Yerima Shettima, there is nothing wrong in what Mohammed said.

He agreed that rather than instigating the society against a particular person or against government, those who have grudges with the election outcome, should go to court.

2023 Presidential poll: You lost woefully — FG tells opposition parties

SUN