What Nigeria Experienced In June 12, Is A Sad One… It is A No-No For May 29
By Rt. Hon. Engr. Chief Victor Edoror
The date, June 12, 1993 went down the history of Nigeria as a date when democracy was truncated, and that eventually drew Nigeria backwards amongst the comity of democratic nations. Thank God we found our feet and got up running again.
The February 25th 2023 Presidential election is one in which Nigerians clearly made their choice known from the wide margin of acceptance of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as reflected in the result of the election. In Nigeria however, contesting election results is a phenomenon that characterizes our electoral process; it is therefore not out of place to see some political parties/some persons making attempt to contest the results of the February 25 election.
HERE ARE THE FACTS:-
The election results of the six geo-political zones, shows that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC, won in the South West, North Central, and North West, while Peter Obi of the Labour Party, LP, won in the South East and the South South, while Atiku Abubakar, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, won only the North East. Inotherwords, while Asiwaju won in three of the six geo-political zones, Peter Obi won two, and Atiku Abubakar won only one.
Again, it is also on record that, Aswiaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC, won the plurality of votes in the North West, North Central, and South West and he also emerged second in the cumulative votes recorded in the South East, South South, and North East.
Is the overall winner not clear from the above analysis? Can the Peter Obi/the so called Obidients and Atiku Abubakar/Atikulators, make bold to state categorically in the court of public opinion that they were rigged out? On what ground are they laying claim to their Presidential victory?
It is very funny to see that the so called Obidients are not contesting the election results of the South East and that of the South South, including that of Lagos state, that was the stronghold of the APC, where they won, but contesting the results from the regions where the All Progressives Congress won.
They complained that rigging took place in those areas won by APC, but they downplayed the massive riggings that were recorded in the South East and South South where they won.
Again, the electoral victory of the APC is also evident from the Senatorial seats won by the party; because, of the total Senatorial Seats announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, APC won 51 Seats, PDP won 27 Seats, LP won 5 Seats, NNPP won 2 Seats, SDP won 2 Seats, YYP won 1 Seat and APGA won 1 Seat. On what ground are the Aticulators and Obidients now laying claim to victory? Ok, maybe they are trying to establish which amongst them came second in the Presidential election, and that shouldn’t be the concern of Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, the President elect.
In their desperate but confused state of mind, they were stressing on the scoring of Twenty five percent of the Federal Capital Territory, forgetting that, the FCT is also one of the 'subsystems' of the Nigeria system, but because it is not a state like other states, it was clearly separated in the constitution…thank God that dialectic has been laid to rest.
The essence of meeting an average of 25% in at least 24 states and the FCT inclusive as provided in the constitution was to determine the popularity and acceptability of a President-elect across the country. This is a check and balance to those who think they can emerge victorious by winning just a section of the country.
Talking about the 25% scores analysis, while the All Progressives Congress met 25% of 29 States, the PDP met 25% of 21 States, LP met 25% of 15 States while NNPP met 25% of only 1 State. It is also crystal clear that Asiwaju of the APC led the other candidates, on the ground of the 25%.
Again, and most importantly, the All Progressives Congress, APC, scored the Highest Votes counted, with 8,714,746 to emerge the winner…CASE CLOSED.
The thought of an Interim National Government should not arise in the minds of any patriotic Nigerian, as we progress in our journey to May 29 Inauguration of the President-elect.
In view of the above, every Nigerian with high concentration of ‘democratic chromosomes’ should look forward to May 29 2023, as we all look forward to the crowning of a new king on that date, as it cannot be like June 12.
Rt. Hon. Engr Chief Victor Sabor Edoror, Mnse
•Ex Speaker,
•Ex Deputy Speaker,
Edo state House of Assembly and
•Dep Coordinator (South),
Grand Alliance for Tinubu and Shettima