The All Progressives Congress (APC), has
has dismissed the claim by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, that he won the 2019 presidential election by 1.6 million vote margin.
Earlier, Atiku released a breakdown of the number of votes he polled in each of the 36 States of the Federation, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The “State to State computation”, showed that Atiku polled a total of 18,356,732 votes, to defeat incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari of the APC, who scored 16,741,430 votes. (See the full result HERE)
Atiku based his claims on the server of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
However, reacting in a statement issued by Lanre Issa-Onilu, the APC National Spokesman, the APC said that the claim was ridiculous and, at best, the antics of the opposition to “cheer up its crestfallen and disillusioned members.”
The APC said that the PDP and it’s candidate, Atiku, have “slipped into severe depression and hallucination.” The statement reads:
“While the APC is not oblivious of the PDP’s antics to discredit the credible Presidential electoral process, acknowledged by local and international Observers, we sympathise with Atiku, for the crushing defeat handed him by President Buhari, through the votes of Nigerians”, Issa-Onilu said.
“Judging by Atiku and PDP’s recent utterances and actions, it is now clear that they have slipped into severe depression and post-defeat hallucination, that have left many Nigerians questioning their current state of mind.
“After weeks of dilly-dallying, the PDP has woken up to the stark reality of its electoral defeat, and decided to follow the constitutional path of filing a petition at the Election Tribunal.
“However, of all the prayers of Atiku before the Election Tribunal, which are at best hollow, the most ridiculous is his claim that the server of the INEC indicated he won the Presidential election by 1.6 million votes.
“A few questions would suffice – is this phantom figure of 1.6 million votes Dubai-invented? Was the result sold to Atiku by his numerous marabouts, who we understand, had assured him that the last election was a done deal for him?”
Issa-Onilu stated that the PDP’s “consistent reference” to INEC server, should be a cause for concern.
He revealed that it is possible that the opposition party has plans to jeopardise INEC’s database, calling on Security Agencies to foil the “evil plan”.
“Most importantly, we note Atiku’s consistent reference to the INEC server, as if he is the custodian of that platform. Indeed, Atiku’s constant reference to the INEC server should raise concerns, as it is becoming apparent that he and the PDP are up for some dastard activities that are targeted at jeopardising the INEC database and internal storage system”, he said.
“We recall, the widespread reported cases of several programmed card readers that were retrieved from some PDP Agents, and their failed attempt to hack the INEC database in the lead up to the then postponed Presidential election.
“We remind the Atiku and PDP, that Nigerians saw through the devious schemes aimed at thwarting their will. Consequently, majority of the voters handed them a harsh verdict — that verdict remains sacrosanct.”