APC’s Obsession with Obi

Despite the fact that the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar who came second in the February 25 presidential election, is also challenging the victory of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Election Petition Court, the All Progressives Congress seems to be more obsessed with the petition of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, Adedayo Akinwale writes

Following the victory of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu in the February 25 presidential election, the leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP) had stormed the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to protest against the outcome of the election won by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The opposition parties had accused INEC of compromise and described 2023 elections as the worst Nigeria ever witnessed since the return of democracy in 1999.

Prior to Tinubu’s declaration and while the collation of the results of the presidential election was ongoing, the Director General of the Campaign Organisation of LP, Akin Osuntokun in a statement alleged that Nigerians had inundated the party with calls and protests over INEC’s non-compliance with provisions of the electoral guidelines and the obvious manipulations of the election results. 

He said President Muhammadu Buhari had promised Nigerians free and fair elections with the passage of the new Electoral Act, while INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu also came before Nigerians and the global community and severally reiterated the commission’s readiness to conduct the elections.

Osuntokun alleged that none of these promises had been kept, adding that all the promises made about deploying a fail-safe system anchored on BVAS were broken.

“We hereby call on INEC to suspend further announcement of the results, and follow its own  guidelines or completely cancel the entire election and make plans for another election with strict compliance with the stipulated laws and guidelines,” he reportedly said. 

But in a swift reaction, the APC campaign said it had noted the disingenuous attempts by the opposition parties to discredit the presidential and National Assembly elections conducted nationwide.

Its Director, Media and Publicity, Bayo Onanuga, in a statement said noteworthy were spokespersons of Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council and that of the Peoples Democratic Party/Atiku Presidential Campaign Council. 

He added: “Two persons we consider as respectable citizens, Professor Pat Utomi and Director-General of Peter Obi Campaign Council, Mr. Akin Osuntokun threw caution to the wind by their inciting and incendiary comments on social media and TV stations where they have been making baseless and irresponsible allegations of electoral manipulations and other malpractices against our party and the electoral umpire, all in a bid to cause disaffection and civil unrest in the country.”

Onanuga noted that both Labour Party and PDP had accused INEC of conspiracy to rig election results in favour of APC, anchoring their allegation on the agency’s inability to upload election results on its website. 

“While we call on INEC to expedite action on the process of uploading the results, we want to state categorically that there is nothing unusual about the seeming delay,” he added.

The verbal war continued as the Labour Party again reiterated its call for the suspension of results announcements of the presidential election.

The Director of Media, Obi-Datti Campaign Organisation, Diran Onifade in a statement said that the party was in possession of hard video, documentary and first-hand evidence of criminal conspiracies, tricks and irregularities by some INEC and security officials on one side, and also record of vicious attacks by political thugs, as well as clear evidence of inducement by politicians, one of whom was caught with half a million dollars in cash.

He argued that the processes and practices as carried on by INEC, and as permitted by some security agencies, did not in the most reasonable minimum, meet the required standards of credibility and were not fundamentally, free and fair.

 “On the basis of these anomalies, the Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Organisation hereby states that the conduct of the elections of 25th February 2023, including the ongoing charade of declaration of ‘results’ in the states and in Abuja are unacceptable, and we hereby demand unequivocally, for the suspension of all processes, until these recorded cases of compromise, illegality and criminality are justifiably resolved especially in the states of  Edo, Imo and Rivers and various parts of the North,” he reportedly explained.

The APC campaign had also responded swiftly, saying its attention had been drawn to some incendiary comments by the spokespersons of the opposition parties, notably the PDP and the LP regarding the yet-to-be-announced results of the presidential elections. 

The spokesperson of the Campaign, Festus Keyamo in a statement said some of members of the opposition had threatened fire and brimstone if their own version of some concocted results were not announced in a bid to be the judge, jury and executioner in this election. 

Keyamo alleged that the opposition parties played up what he had described as some isolated incidents of violence in APC strongholds, stressing that the ruling party also had tonnes of videos of massive electoral malpractices like violence against non-LP supporters, forcing and guiding women and children to thumb-print ballot papers for LP and massive thumb-printing of ballot papers by both PDP and LP supporters in some parts of the country.

“On our part, we have decided to be calm to await the official announcement of the results and to pursue any grievance (if any) in a lawful manner,” he added.

He vowed that the APC would not sit back and allow unguided comments to gain grounds in order to foist a particular narrative on Nigerians.

 Subsequently, both Atiku and Obi addressed a joint press conference where they rejected the declaration of Tinubu as the president-elect.

They therefore resolved to challenge the outcome of the election in court.

It was at this point that the Special Adviser, Media and Communication, APC campaign, Mr. Dele Alake addressed a press conference and commended the duo of Atiku and Obi for finally opting for the rule of law.

He was of the opinion that those who laid claim to democratic credentials were expected to be conscious of those inimitable minimum requirements of law and order even in the face of a perceived injustice. 

Alake stressed that the initial knee-jerk and hothead call for anarchy by their proxies was ill-advised and would in no way serve any noble cause.

He said it was good to know that reason had prevailed.

 While featuring on ARISE News Channel, Obi reiterated that he wanted to challenge the process of declaring the winner of the presidential election.

According to Obi, “To win in democracy is to win the people. The declared winner, Bola Tinubu did not win- that is what we are challenging…’ 

However, Obi’s ARISE TV interview did not go down well with the APC as the party started amassing arsenals to unleash attacks on the LP candidate.

Reacting to the interview, the APC campaign organisation in a statement called on Obi to stop deceiving his gullible followers and raising unrealistic hopes about reclaiming the presidency from Tinubu.

But hell was let loose on Obi when his grounds for seeking to void Tinubu’s victory became public knowledge.

Obi in his petition filed by his team of lawyers hinged his request on the grounds that he and not Tinubu scored majority of lawful votes cast at the presidential poll.

Obi also argued that Tinubu and his Vice-president-elect, Kasheem Shetima ought not to be on the presidential ballot on grounds that they were not lawfully nominated by their party.

The presidential candidate of Labour Party argued that  INEC violated its own regulations when it announced the result despite the fact that at the time of the announcement, the totality of the polling unit results had yet to be fully scanned, uploaded and transmitted electronically as required by the Electoral Act.

Obi also cited that forfeiture of $460,000 by Tinubu to the United States Government over alleged drug deals, an allegation that unsettled the APC leaders and incensed the party’s spokespersons.

Though Atiku and the PDP also submitted petitions against Tinubu, they did not cite the alleged drug scandals.

However, both APC and INEC urged PEPC to dismiss the petition filed by the LP and its presidential candidate against the emergence of Tinubu.

In their separate replies to the LP and Obi’s petitions, they asked the court to deny them all the reliefs sought on the grounds that their petition was “devoid of any merit and also founded on frivolity”.

They claimed that contrary to the allegations of LP and Obi, the presidential election was conducted in substantial compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022.

Since the content of Obi’s petition became public knowledge, the Tinubu’s allies have unleashed sustained attacks on the candidate, leaving Atiku out of the verbal war.

The focus of attack by Tinubu’s supporters is on Obi himself. They claimed that he took a third position but cannot afford to ignore him as they pay more attention to him than they pay to the second-place candidate.

This is despite the fact that Obi has been urging his supporters to remain calm and steadfast.

The latest attack on Obi came from a former Governor of Enugu State, Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani, who called on Obi to withdraw his petition against Tinubu so as to allow negotiation on behalf of the South-east.

But Obi’s supporters described Nnamani’s sustained attacks on Obi as acts of desperation to endear himself to Tinubu so as to grab the ministerial slot meant for Enugu State from APC members, having lost his senatorial seat.

Obi’s supporters asked Nnamani what would happen to the other zones that also voted for Obi.

In his intervention, a legislative consultant and Public Affairs Analyst, Akinloye Oyeniyi said Nnamani did not make a wrong call. He also argued that the step taken by Obi was a right step and part of the electoral process which would help in eradicating electoral violence and consolidation of democracy.

He said:  “While Obi’s step is part of the electoral process and one that is not only to seek redress but to also help in eradicating electoral violence and consolidation of democracy, Nnamani’s call to him to withdraw his petition against the declared winner, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to allow negotiations on behalf of the South-east, is also an acceptable negotiation ground to have access to dividends of democracy and inclusiveness in governance.”

The APC ‘s obsession with Obi is an indication that his petition may be the main thorn in the ruling party’s flesh.