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General News of Wednesday, 1 March 2023

Source: www.mynigeria.com

Bring forward your evidence of fraud - Buhari to aggrieved political parties

President Buhari and Bola Ahmed Tinubu President Buhari and Bola Ahmed Tinubu

President Muhamadu Buhari has reacted to the just concluded presidential elections that lead to the victory of his party's candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Buhari in a statement congratulated Nigerians for the conduct of the polls as well as the outcomes, surprising as some were across the country.

Tinubu, the candidate of the All Progressives Party (APC) was declared winner of the polls beating off competition from former vice president Atiku Abubakar and one-time Anambra State governor, Peter Obi.

NEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu, who announced the final results in the early hours of Wednesday in Abuja, said Atiku Abubakar of the PDP came second in the election.

Atiku polled a total of 6,984,520 votes in the election.

Peter Obi of the Labour Party came third in the election with a total of 6,101,533 votes while Rabiu Kwankwaso of the NNPP came fourth with 1,496,687 votes.

Buhari's stressed that he was happy that Nigeria had delivered "Africa’s largest democratic exercise," admitting that the faults identified will lead to reforms in the future.

“The election was Africa’s largest democratic exercise. In a region that has undergone backsliding and military coups in recent years, this election demonstrates democracy’s continued relevance and capability to deliver for the people it serves," the statement read in part.

In his message to the vanquished, the outgoing president noted: “I know some politicians and candidates may not agree with this view. That too is fine. If any candidate believes they can prove the fraud they claim is committed against them, then bring forward the evidence.

"If they cannot, then we must conclude that the election was indeed the people’s will no matter how hard that may be for the losers to accept. If they feel the need to challenge, please take it to the courts, not to the streets.

Mr Yakubu said a Certificate of Return for the President and Vice President will be presented by 3 p.m. on Wednesday at the National Collation Centre.

Only the top four candidates won the presidential election in at least one state. Each of Messrs Tinubu, Atiku and Obi won in 12 states while Mr Kwankwaso won only in Kano.

However, winning a majority of states is not a requirement for a candidate to be declared the winner of the election.