The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the February 25, 2023 elections in Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, has said that he will not validate the outcome of the poll, which he described as flawed.
The former Vice President spoke in a statement following reports that he had validated the outcome of the election.
The Eagle Online recalls that the Independent National Electoral Commission in the early hours of March 1, 2023 declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as the winner of the poll and the President-Elect.
Abubakar had then gone to court to oppose the declaration.
However, reports on Friday suggested that he had validated the outcome.
Reacting in a statement he personally signed on Saturday, the former Vice President said: “I have been notified of a fake press release attributed to me and purportedly giving legitimacy to the widely rigged presidential election of February 25.
“The so-called press release did not emanate from me or my office, and it should be treated with repudiation, untrue, and deliberately contrived by those who illegally appropriated the mandate of the Nigerian people.
“For the avoidance of any doubt, I wish to state categorically that my lawyers still have my unflinching mandate to challenge the outcome of the February 25 presidential election.
“I join other lovers of democracy in Nigeria and friends of our great country in the outright rejection of the predetermined outcome of the February 25 election.
“I shall continue to challenge the legality of that election, alongside my party, the Peoples Democratic Party.
“The decision to challenge the sham election of February 25, the worst election in our democratic history, is not predicated on my personal interest but for the interest of Nigeria and its people. It is aimed at deepening democracy and ensuring that we do not confer legitimacy to an outcome of illegitimacy.
“My commitment to the democratic struggle in Nigeria is beyond an election season.”
