The running mate of Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate in the February 25, election, Dr Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed has appealed to supporters and party faithful, who were not happy with the outcome of the poll to be calm.
This online platform had earlier reported that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress winner of Saturday’s presidential election.
According to INEC official results, Tinubu came out top in 12 of Nigeria’s 36 states, and secured significant numbers in several states to claim the highest number of votes to defeat main challengers – Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party and Peter Obi of the Labour Party.
While Tinubu polled a total 8,794,726 million votes, the 76-year-old former Vice President, who has now run for president six times, secured 6,984,520 votes, and Obi, who, in less than a year, galvanised young voters in a manner some have described as unprecedented, finished the race with 6,101,533.
The election was largely characterised by voters suppression, thuggery, manipulation of results which led to the electoral umpire breaching its set out guidelines for the election, which stipulated that Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), an electronic device designed to read Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and authenticate voters would be used for accreditation and uploading of polling units results.
However, that didn’t happen in the election as INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, said that they had glitches with the system.
Reacting to the declaration of APC Tinubu as the winner of the poll despite several protests and calls for the commission to cancel the exercise, LP’s vice presidential candidate, Baba-Ahmed said “This is a case of stolen mandate and it will be recovered.”
Baba-Ahmed who stated this in series of tweets, posted in his official Twitter handle, appealed to Nigerians to be calm and remain resilient in the quest for a new Nigeria, adding that Nigerians mandate cannot be stolen.
He wrote: “It will be a very long ride but I plead with you all to keep calm. This is a case of stolen mandate and it will be recovered.
#RevolutionNow #protest Kashim Shettima #SupremeCourt HELL NO grace grace grace. As I stand here looking in the mirror at their RESULTS, I see many things, but what I see most is a strong spirit incapable of being stopped.
“The Youths of Nigeria #WhattsApp Arise TV #ARISEnews #Christians #Muslim Igbos Yoruba Hausa Mr President elect.
“Let’s love hard when there’s love to be had. The choice is up to us if we are meant to be just a chapter or perhaps, a happily ever after. Forever doesn’t accept maybes, And neither will I.”
