ADC presidential candidate hails Tinubu, says APC, PDP, LP, NNPP rigged Saturday’s election

The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Dumebi Kachikwu, has described the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, in last Saturday’s election as “well deserved.”

Mr Kachikwu also alleged that all the four major parties, namely APC, PDP, LP and NNPP, committed fraud during the election.

The ADC candidate said this in a statement in Abuja on Friday.

Mr Tinubu won the poll with 8,794,726 votes while Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic (PDP) came second with 6,984,520 and Peter Obi of the Labour Party third with 6,101,533 votes.

The three candidates won 12 states each.

Mr Kachikwu polled 81,919 votes in the election.

However, both the PDP and the LP candidates said they would challenge the outcome of the poll in court.

The failure of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to upload the results to the viewing platform has raised questions about the integrity of the process.

Mr Kachikwu said Mr Tinubu’s victory was “a clear case of consistency and preparation meets opportunity,” adding that the president-elect was a dogged fighter with a mastery of the Nigerian political system and took advantage of a disunited opposition some of whom were running purely on the divisive platforms of ethnicity and religion.

He said though the four major parties rigged the election, it was not sufficient to alter the outcome of the process.

“The distortions occasioned by the rigging done by the four so-called leading parties were not significant enough to have altered the outcome of this election,” he said.

The ADC candidate recalled that he ahead of the poll, he warned the PDP and LP to forge a common front to fight the APC but that they refused to put aside their petty differences in order to do.

He said, “I long warned that any vote for the Labour Party was a vote in support of an APC victory. The PDP and Labour Party candidates failed to show leadership when they refused to put aside petty differences to build a formidable opposition to take on a non-performing sitting government. They now seek to form an alliance of sore losers after defeat.”

Mr Kachikwu also faulted religious organisations that allowed their platforms to be used for political campaigns.

Read the full statement:

A VICTORY WELL DESERVED

The victory of Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu in the just concluded Presidential Polls is a clear case of consistency and preparation meets opportunity. Asiwaju, a dogged fighter with a mastery of the Nigerian political system took advantage of a disunited opposition some of whom were running purely on the divisive platforms of ethnicity and religion.

The distortions occasioned by the rigging done by the four so-called leading parties were not significant enough to have altered the outcome of this election. I long warned that any vote for the Labour Party was a vote in support of an APC victory. The PDP and Labour Party candidates failed to show leadership when they refused to put aside petty differences to build a formidable opposition to take on a non-performing sitting government. They now seek to form an alliance of sore losers after defeat.

Asiwaju’s victory is a lesson to segments of the clergy who provided their places of worship as campaign platforms. We must separate thus saith the Lord from our biases and personal convictions. If they seek to clean up the political space, they must first look within. Most of those who lead us can be found there on Friday’s and Sunday’s.

Are we a nation of sinners in search of a saint or a nation of the lost in search of a leader? Asiwaju’s victory answers this question.

This election has been won and lost, Nigeria and Nigerians must now move forward. All hands must be on deck in this onerous task of nation-building. We remain Nigerians. God bless us all.