Atiku Abubakar has praised the European Union Election Monitoring Group for concluding in its report that the last election was riddled with electoral irregularities and fell short of the basic criterion of legitimacy.
He also chastised President Bola Tinubu and his spokesman, Dele Alake, for attempting to debunk the claim.
In a statement, the former vice president said that even the dead knew the last election lacked credibility, and that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was unable to explain why, nearly five months after the election, it refused to upload the full result on its result viewing portal.
“Even primary school children who did not vote know that INEC failed woefully and that Tinubu rigged the last election.
“The presidential election held on February 25, 2023 and yet as of July 2, 2023, the result of the election has not been fully uploaded. This is despite the fact that this election was the most expensive in the history of West Africa.
“How can an election in which the full results have not been fully uploaded after nearly five months be described as credible by any sane human being?”
He described as nonsensical, Alake’s claim that the EU was a meddlesome interloper for discrediting the poll.
He said it was hypocritical of the Nigerian government to receive millions of dollars from the EU as election fund and then turn around to claim that the EU has no right to make comments on the election.
“The EU said last September that it budgeted 39 million euros for Nigeria’s 2023 election. Most of the funding went to INEC as election support.
“The EU not only provided training for INEC staff but also donated equipment for INEC to conduct the poll. So why would Alake claim that the EU has no right to speak when it was the largest single donor to INEC? Alake should rather be quiet rather than try to defend the indefensible.”
Atiku further argued that the results in states like Rivers showed that the election was far from credible.
He said it was tragic that Tinubu was planning on rewarding former governor Nyesom Wike with a ministerial portfolio despite the accusations of rigging levelled against him as well as a pending petition against the former governor which has attracted nearly 300,000 votes.
“The presidential election in Rivers State was clearly rigged as evidenced by what INEC has uploaded on IREV. So far, nearly 300,000 Nigerians have signed a petition on change.org demanding visa bans against Wike.
“Tinubu is now on the verge of appointing Wike as a minister as a reward for that disgraceful election. What a shame. And this is the character who claimed to have fought for the actualisation of June 12?”
Atiku called on the United States and the United Kingdom to speed up the process of imposing visa bans on election riggers.
He admonished them to also reveal the identities of those implicated in election rigging, especially staff of INEC and members of All Progressives Congress.
“The report of European Union Election Observation Team like all other reports on the 2023 presidential election is not different from the facts our legal team, led by Chris Uche, have placed before their lordships at the presidential elections petitions court. We are encouraged by the presence of the manifold brave and audacious men and women of the Bench in our judiciary.
“We know that, very soon, those distinguished and imperial dispensers of justice in our present day judiciary shall deliver a judgment that will be pure as the driven snow and not tainted by gravies and or bullied by coercion from characters with iniquitous power,” he said.