Nigeria’s Opposition: ‘Scrap Fraudulent Vote’ As Ruling Party ‘Wins’
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
ABUJA (Worthy News) – Nigeria’s main opposition parties urged authorities to scrap the African nation’s elections, saying results showing the ruling party’s presidential candidate in the lead had been manipulated.
The political upheaval added to security concerns in a country where thousands, many of them Christians, have been killed in mainly Islamist attacks.
Initial results of chaotic elections showed Bola Tinubu from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) well ahead of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and the outsider third challenger, the Labour party’s Peter Obi.
With official results from 32 of Nigeria’s 36 states, including the capital Abuja, Tinubu was ahead with 8.1 million votes against PDP’s Abubakar at 6.4 million and Obi with 4.8 million ballots.
Tinubu, 70, is a long-time political kingmaker, who ran on his record as Lagos state governor from 1999 to 2007, observers said. But during campaigning, he faced questions over his health, past graft accusations, and ties to Buhari’s legacy.
The winning candidate has to receive the most votes nationally and also score at least 25 percent in two-thirds of the states.
VOLATILE SPLIT
These measures reflect the volatile country’s split between a predominantly Muslim north and a widely Christian south, as well as three main ethnic groups.
PDP and Labour parties on Monday called for the presidential vote to be scrapped and demanded a fresh election because of what they claimed was massive manipulation of votes.
“The election is irretrievably compromised,” Labour Party chairman Julius Abure told reporters. “We demand that this sham of an election should be immediately canceled.”
Whoever is eventually declared the winner will be pressured to deal with Nigeria‘s ongoing and spreading Islamist insurgencies.
Opponents say outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari failed to stop armed attacks, killings, and kidnappings, as well as conflict between Islamic livestock herders and farmers, many of them Christians.
Additionally, cash, fuel, and power shortages and perennial corruption added to growing public frustration with the political elite, commentators say.
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