2023 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: PDP, LP, AND APC LAUNCH NEW TIRADES, AND A LAWYER SEEKS SANCTIONS

Two months after the 2023 presidential election, the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and his Labour Party, LP, counterpart, Peter Obi, say they won.

They are not alone in the debate, as the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, is issuing media announcements with counterclaims about the poll results.

Given that the cases are being litigated, the developments are considered as concerning.

President-elect Bola Tinubu will be sworn in as Nigeria's new leader on May 29.

But his two main rivals, Atiku and Obi, are sticking to their claim that they, not Tinubu, won the election.

President Muhammadu Buhari stated a few days ago that the opposition lost the election due of overconfidence.

He was quoted as saying: "They were already telling their foreign backers that they would defeat the APC. Our Party blended confidence with caution, we worked hard and won. Now, their overconfidence is creating more problems for the opposition than anyone else. They are finding it hard to convince those who supported them from outside why they are unable to beat us.

"A combination of over confidence, complacency and bad tactical moves made them lose, plain and clear. This has created more problems in their camp. Why did they fail to remove us?"

Also, Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, has urged the opposition to put an end to their endless wrangling over the last election, which they dreadfully lost.

However, the PDP has retaliated, claiming that Atiku won the election.

The opposition party's National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, stated that polling unit results proved that Atiku won the presidential election, but the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, declared Tinubu the winner.

He said, "The PDP insists that its candidate, Atiku clearly won the February 25, 2023 Presidential election, as shown from the actual votes cast at the Polling Units across the country.

"The PDP describes the subjudice claims by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, that the opposition lost the election, as yet another in the series of attempts by the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Executive to bully and blackmail the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.

"Nigerians are aware that by the authentic results obtained from the Polling Units, Atiku Abubakar and not the APC candidate met all the conditions stipulated for the winning of the Presidential election."

The Labour Party's Peter Obi also seized the occasion of a stakeholders' gathering to re-echo his position that he was the election winner.

Obi, who finished third in the election, said he will utilize every legal measures possible to reclaim his allegedly stolen mandate.

Obi wrote following the Awka meeting: "Earlier, I interacted with the Anambra State Labour Party Stakeholders in Awka. The meeting was quite animated and constructive. Part of our discussions centred on the way forward for the party.

"I reassured them of my readiness to go all the way, explore every available legal option to ensure that we get our mandate back. I appreciated all their support so far, as I assured them of mine. PO."

Five political parties have petitioned the Tribunal to overturn Tinubu's victory.

The PDP, the LP, the Allied People's Movement, the Action Alliance, and the Action People's Party are among them.

According to the INEC results, Tinubu received 8,794,726 votes, ahead of the PDP's Atiku, who received 6,984,520 votes, and Peter Obi of the LP, who received 6,101,533 votes. With 1,496,687 votes, Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) finished fourth.

Barr Olu Omotayo, a legal luminary, stated that politicians' behavior following the presidential election is unusual.

The lawyer stated that he anticipated the Nigerian Bar Association and the Judiciary to take appropriate action.

"What is happening now is very strange; we never saw it before, but this particular year is very different.

"People who have their matters pending before the court are still going to the press saying one thing or the other, to likely prejudice the outcome.

"When a matter is before the court, you don't comment on it, so that you give the judges some free hand; you don't put them under some form of fear.

"It is unfortunate and because of the weak institution, the court is not as active as in those days; if not, the office of the CJN would have been able to say something about it and warned them.

"The office of the CJN would have directed the political parties to stop all those things since their matter is in court. But the courts are not saying anything. The CJN who is supposed to be the protector of the courts is not taking action on this.

"Even the bar also, the Nigerian Bar Association, you see lawyers also who know how things are supposed to be, you see them making inflammatory statements, even making press statements on what is pending before the tribunal, very senior lawyers; so the lawyers have to be blamed; they are not advising their clients that this matter is pending.

"It is unfortunate that Senior Advocates, very senior lawyers are also making statements in a pending matter before the tribunal and it should stop," Omotayo counselled.