{"id":11348,"date":"2019-02-28T01:46:01","date_gmt":"2019-02-28T01:46:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/ng\/?p=5384"},"modified":"2019-02-28T01:46:01","modified_gmt":"2019-02-28T01:46:01","slug":"developing-news-muhammadu-buhari-declared-winner-of-nigerias-2019-presidential-election-opposition-rejects-result-heads-to-court-with-evidence-national-electoral-commission-apc-15191847-pd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/developing-news-muhammadu-buhari-declared-winner-of-nigerias-2019-presidential-election-opposition-rejects-result-heads-to-court-with-evidence-national-electoral-commission-apc-15191847-pd\/","title":{"rendered":"DEVELOPING NEWS: MUHAMMADU BUHARI declared winner of Nigeria’s 2019 presidential election, Opposition rejects result…heads to Court with evidence National Electoral Commission: APC 15,191,847 PDP: votes 11,255,978 BY NURUDEEN ALIYU\/POLITICAL EDITOR"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

DEVELOPING\nNEWS:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MUHAMMADU\nBUHARI declared winner of Nigeria’s 2019 presidential election,\nOpposition rejects result<\/strong>…heads\nto Court with evidence<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

National\nElectoral Commission: <\/strong>APC\n<\/strong>15,191,847<\/strong>\n PDP:<\/strong>\nvotes 11,255,978 <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BY NURUDEEN\nALIYU\/POLITICAL EDITOR<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ABUJA-NIGERIA’S\nPresident, MUHAMMADU BUHARI <\/strong>has\nbeen declared the winner of the just concluded presidential election\nin Nigeria which held on Saturday 23rd<\/sup>\nFebruary by the nation’s Independent National Electoral Commission\n(INEC), having scored a total of 15,191,847 <\/strong>representing\nthe All Progressives Congress (APC). Atiku Abubakar, Nigeria’s former\nVice president, the presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic\nParty (PDP) who scored a total of 11,255,978\n<\/strong>has\nassured Nigerians that he will not concede defeat to the incumbent\nleader but proceed to Court with all evidence to prove his\nlegitimacy. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After\nfew days of rolling out the votes by INEC, Buhari was at the INEC\nHeadquarters in Abuja to receive his Certificate of Return in company\nof Professor Yemi Oshinbajo, Vice president. As he accepted his\nofficial certificate of election at the INEC in the capital, Abuja,\nhe said the election was “another milestone in Nigeria’s\ndemocratic development. From the comment of several observers, both\nlocal and foreign, it is obvious that the elections were both free\nand fair,” he said. Earlier, he had urged his supporters not to\n“gloat or humiliate” the opposition following his victory.\n“No section or group will feel left behind or left out,” he\npromised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buhari\nsaid: \u201cNow that the elections are over, and a\nwinner declared, we must all see it as a victory for Nigeria, our\ndear country. That was why I encouraged my teeming supporters, in a\nspeech I read earlier today, not to gloat. Our God-given victory is\nenough cause for joy, without deriding those who were in the\nopposition. All Nigerians, going forward, must stand in brotherhood,\nfor a bright and fulfilling future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n \u201cI\ntherefore want to assure that we will continue to engage all parties\nthat have the best interest of Nigerians at heart. Our Government\nwill remain inclusive and our doors will remain open. That is the way\nto build the country of our dream; safe, secure, prosperous, and free\nof impunity and primitive accumulation by those entrusted with public\noffices. The hard work to deliver a better Nigeria continues,\nbuilding on the foundations of peace, rule of law and opportunities\nfor all. We will roll up our sleeves afresh, and give it our all. We\nhave no other motive than to serve Nigeria with our hearts and might,\nand build a nation which we and generations to come can be proud of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n \u201cI\nam very grateful to the over 15 million citizens who voted for me,\nthose who contributed in many ways in the running of our successful\ncampaign, and those at home and abroad who expressed confidence in me\nand the APC Government. I thank you all. I can assure that you will\nsee a country moving to the Next Level, as we consolidate on our\nfundamental areas of securing the country, reviving the economy, and\nfighting corruption. Many other focal areas, as stated in our\ncampaign manual, will be added, to the good things we plan for our\ncountry. Let me pay tribute here to those who lost their lives either\nthrough accidents or mindless violence during the course of these\nelections. My heart and thoughts are with the families of the\nvictims. May God comfort and give them the fortitude to bear the\nloss. Election is not war, and should never be seen as a do or die\naffair. I pray that we all accept this democratic approach to\nelections, however contentious.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buhari\npromised to use his second term in taking Nigerians to the next level\nof governance. He also condoled with the families of those who lost\ntheir lives as a result of violence incidences in parts of the\ncountry during the elections. He assured Nigerians that his\nadministration would ensure an all-inclusive government, adding that\nhe would ensue that Nigeria moves to the next level. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Atiku\ncriticised what he called a “sham election” and has vowed\nto go to court. Buhari, who was re-elected in Saturday’s poll,\ninsisted that it had been free and fair. Delays and violence marred\nthe run-up to the election but no independent observer has cited\nelectoral fraud. In the 1980s, Mr Buhari, 76, was one of several\nmilitary rulers in Nigeria and this election marks the 20th\nanniversary of the return to civilian rule. Mr Buhari got 15.2\nmillion votes while Mr Abubakar received 11.3 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turnout\nwas a record low at just 35.6% and Mr Abubakar, 72, said this was the\nresult of a deliberate policy to prevent his supporters from voting.\nHe said that troops had been deployed to strongholds of his\nPeople’s Democratic Party (PDP) to stop people casting their ballots.\nMr Abubakar said there had been “premeditated malpractices”\nin many states and wondered how states “ravaged” by the\nIslamist insurgency – in Mr Buhari’s strongholds in the north –\ngenerated higher voter turnouts than more peaceful states. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nhis official reaction, Atiku explained that Democracy will not be\nemasculated in Nigeria. <\/strong>\u201cWith\nregards to the Presidential elections that took place on February 23,\n2019, it is clear that there were manifest and premeditated\nmalpractices in many states which negate the results announced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nOne\nobvious red flag is the statistical impossibility of states ravaged\nby the war on terror generating much higher voter turnouts than\npeaceful states. The suppressed votes in my strongholds are so\napparent and amateurish, that I am ashamed as a Nigerian that such\ncould be allowed to happen. How can total votes in Akwa-Ibom, for\ninstance, be 50% less than what they were in 2015?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another\nglaring anomaly is the disruption of voting in strongholds of the\nPeoples Democratic Party in Lagos, Akwa-Ibom, Rivers and diverse\nother states, with the authorities doing little or nothing and in\nsome cases facilitating these unfortunate situations,\u201d he said. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Atiku\nsaid: \u201c<\/strong>The\nmilitarization of the electoral process is a disservice to our\ndemocracy and a throwback to the jackboot era of military\ndictatorship. In some areas of the country, such as, Rivers, Akwa\nIbom and Imo states, troops deployed for the elections turned their\nguns on the very citizens they were meant to protect. This is\ncondemnable and should not be associated with our electoral process\nin the future. I\nam a democrat and there are democratic avenues available to present\nthe truth to the nation and the watching world. Already, many\ninternational observers have given their verdicts, which corroborate\nour observations. I am sure more will come in the coming hours and\ndays. If I had lost in a free and fair election, I would have called\nthe victor within seconds of my being aware of his victory to offer\nnot just my congratulations, but my services to help unite Nigeria by\nbeing a bridge between the North and the South.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n \u201cHowever,\nin my democratic struggles for the past three decades, I have never\nseen our democracy so debased as it was on Saturday, February 23,\n2019. 2007 was a challenge, but President Yar\u2019Adua was remorseful.\nIn 2019, it is sad to see those who trampled on democracy thumping\ntheir noses down on the Nigerian people. Consequently, I hereby\nreject the result of the February 23, 2019 sham election and will be\nchallenging it in court. I want to assure my supporters and the\nentire Nigerian people that together, we will not allow democracy to\nbe emasculated. I hope and pray Nigerians will someday summon the\ncourage to defend democracy. That is the only way we can move away\nfrom being the world headquarters for extreme poverty.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DEVELOPING NEWS: MUHAMMADU BUHARI declared winner of Nigeria’s 2019 presidential election, Opposition rejects result…heads to Court with evidence National Electoral Commission: APC 15,191,847 PDP: votes 11,255,978 BY NURUDEEN ALIYU\/POLITICAL EDITOR ABUJA-NIGERIA’S President, MUHAMMADU BUHARI has been declared the winner of the just concluded presidential election in Nigeria which held on Saturday 23rd February by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5385,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[102],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nigeria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}