The Labour Party has said that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) did not legitimately win the presidential election but stole the mandate given to its party by Nigerians.
The LP was reacting to a comment credited to President Muhammadu Buhari that opposition parties lost the poll due to overconfidence and bad tactics.
Buhari was quoted in a statement by his media aide, Garba Shehu, on Thursday as saying that “overconfidence, complacency and bad tactical moves created problems for the opposition in the election.
The President’s comments have not gone down well with the opposition parties, with the Peoples Democratic Party earlier calling on the international community to impose a visa ban on the Nigerian leader.
Replying, the LP in a statement on Friday through its Acting National Secretary, Obiorah Ifoh, tackled President Buhari over the statement claiming that APC and its presidential candidate (now president-elect), Bola Tinubu did not win the election.
According to Obiorah, the president was “completely wrong to say opposition parties lost because of over confidence”.
He alleged that the poll was “manipulated and rigged beyond comprehension”.
“The Labour Party is very worried and disturbed with the statement from the office of the President wherein he said that the opposition parties lost the 2023 presidential election because of their overconfidence, complacency and bad tactical moves, and which he claimed created more problems for them,” the statement reads.
“We want to point it out clearly to President Muhammadu Buhari that his position on the outcome of the said election was false, untrue, and it is not a true reflection of what played out during the election.
“There are several reasons why opposition political parties lost the 2023 election; the first is that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC snubbed the electoral act wherein it failed to upload the result from the polling unit in real time as promised and in disregard to the laws guiding the election. The INEC by so doing, created room for that election to be rigged.
It further claimed the “current APC president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu didn’t win the election, because the said election, particularly, the presidential election was manipulated and rigged beyond comprehension.
“So political parties didn’t lose the election because of overconfidence or complacency as proffered by Mr. President, APC, in collaboration with the various government agencies simply rigged the election and rigged themselves into power.
“Let me remind Mr. President of the magnitude of violence, ballot snuffing, snatching and manipulations of results from the collation centres using security agencies, which included police, army amongst others as well as thugs to manipulate elections in favour of the ruling party.
“Recently, we saw the show of shame that took place in Adamawa. What played out in Adamawa was a microcosm of what played out all over the states during the February 25 and March 18 elections in Nigeria. Why the case of Adamawa was given huge publicity and attention was because of the involvement of an INEC National commissioner who was a victim, thus forcing INEC to take prompt action.
“From Lagos to Rivers, from north to southern parts of the country, all over, violence characterised that election. In most cases, some agents and supporters were not allowed access to the polling units.
“All of these put together, do they amount to overconfidence and complacency on the part of the opposition party? It shows that the President who promised Nigerians that he was going to give Nigerians a free, fair and credible election simply failed in his duty in giving Nigerians the election they deserved.”
He described the 2023 general election as the worst election the country ever had since the current republic; since 1999 to date.
“The 2023 general election is the worst ever as reported by virtually all the international observers and communities. In fact, the election took Nigeria back to the days of the First and Second Republics where political thugs, where violence and thuggery characterised politics and elections.
“So Mr. President is completely wrong. I believe that he was ill-advised. It was erroneous for him to say that opposition parties lost the election because of overconfidence. In fact, Labour Party won the election but it was brazenly stolen by APC. Mr. President is aware of the fact that APC did not win the election and that it was stolen.”