POLITICS
I Won the 2023 Election, I’ll Ensure I’m Not Rigged Out Again in the Next Poll – Obi
July 27, () — The Presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, claimed he was rigged out with cooked results in the 2023 general election and vowed to prevent a repeat in 2027. He added that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is tired and should step aside for a more competent and committed leader.
Speaking in an interview on the MEDIA TODAY programme, Politics on Sunday, the former Labour Party presidential candidate—who won 6,101,533 votes in the 2023 polls versus the 8,794,726 votes polled by President Tinubu (who was declared the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC)—said he was poised to outperform his rivals in the upcoming presidential election because he has the correct demographic backing from the youths and Nigerians yearning for change.
Presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, who scored 6,984,520 million votes and Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, who polled 1,496,687 votes, were the other two candidates in the four-way race of that election.
“As it is right now, Bola Tinubu is leading us nowhere. We will turn it so he can see it. That’s why maybe I’m calling for his retirement. The man should just step aside. Yes, he doesn’t have the capacity to do the job. I won the 2023 election. The results were cooked and the poll rigged. That is why I am calling for a free and fair election. I am going to ensure it does not happen again. This is the time for the President to uphold his democratic credentials, which he preaches,” Obi said.
According to him, Nigeria is in a crisis that requires adequate capacity to solve and the President cannot tackle insecurity today because he doesn’t have the capacity.
“If he can’t do it, he should retire in peace.” Referencing what he considered the agility and capacity of President Tinubu as governor of Lagos State between 1999 and 2007, Obi claimed that the President was running a low administration by comparison.
“The Bola Tinubu that was governor is not the one that is president today. He’s tired. He should be allowed to retire in peace and then go home.”
He dismissed suggestions that he was a political lightweight, incapable of re-enacting his 2023 performance because of the radical changes in the political landscape with a fragmented, crisis riddled opposition alongside the impact of his defections, as well as the presence of a formidable governing party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, with 31 governors, 88 out of 109 Senators and 280 out of 360 House for Representatives members, saying that issues should be the focus of the forthcoming electioneering.
“36 governors do not mean that the people are with the 36 persons in the states. A political lightweight in the Southeast won the popular votes with more than 80 per cent in states in the zone. The election in 2027 should be about issues which affect Nigerians,” he said, adding that, “The World Bank has just said that 79 per cent of Nigerians are going to face poverty. In a country of 230 million people, that’s over 180 million. That should be the issue we should be discussing. They should be talking about the issue of out-of-school children, talking about the issue of health and all these monies that are missing here and there that would have been invested properly. Nobody is discussing it. The World Food Programme has just said 35 million Nigerians are going to face hunger. Nigerians are being kidnapped. Let’s talk about Nigeria.”
Asked to name three core things he would do if elected president, he said he would provide the leadership that ensures the country is not divided along ethnic and religious lines, secure the country and return the country to the rule of law and provide education that equipped Nigerians with the skill set and knowledge to be productive and creative.
“You can’t create mass poverty and think you can deal with insecurity. The more you put people out of poverty, the more you reduce criminality. You need to invest massively in education. Whatever it takes to secure any Nigerian, I will do that If your people are dying, you should be ready to die. You’re the president. You’re the number one person,” he said.
