US grants Obidients permission to use iconic park for protest against the 2023 election outcome

The United States have granted permission to the supporters of Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party popularly known as ‘Obidients’ to make use of a park to embark on their protest over the 2023 Nigeria presidential election results.

According to reports, the permit allows for 100 protesters to converge on the iconic Lafayette Park in Washington D.C. on April 3 for four hours.

The park is located across the street from the White House.

The organizer of the protest, Franklin Ekechukwu, said the protest was to call on the US government not to recognize Bola Tinubu as the winner of the 2023 presidential election.

“We in the diaspora are demonstrating to call the attention of the US government and Biden administration to not recognize the winner,” he said.

The United States Department of the Interior cautioned the organisers and anyone at the protest to “comply with all reasonable directions of the United States Park Police”.

Also, “all sideways, walkways and roadways must remain unobstructed to allow for the reasonable use of these areas by pedestrians, vehicles, and other park visitors.”

On March 1, 2023, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), declared Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress as the winner of the presidential election.

Tinubu polled 8,794,726 votes to defeat his major contenders – Atiku Abubakar of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) who came second and polled 6,984,520 votes, Peter Obi of the Labour Party scored 6,101,533 votes to come third and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria People’s Party with 1,496,687 votes.

The opposition parties have since described the election as flawed and are contesting the outcome in court.

They are also accusing the ruling APC of rigging the election in their favour.