- •Obi: it’s not credible
The Presidency yesterday put up another defence of the February 25 presidential election.
It dismissed claims that the election was marred by violence.
Presidential Spokesman Garba Shehu said 98 per cent of eligible Nigerians voted without intimidation.
But Labour Party (LP) candidate Peter Obi disagreed, saying the election was not credible.
Both men spoke during appearances at different times on two national television stations.
Obi described the poll as a setback in the democratic process.
He said: “We have seen probably what I consider the worst election in our recent history because of the Electoral law [Act] of 2022 which gave so much hope and the huge expenditure we put into technology.
“Do you know what it means to spend over $1bn? So, there was so much that was promised and then, we went back to what it used to be. For me, that is very devastating.”
Obi said the conduct of the election has further dampened the morale of youths who had so much hope in the process, adding that he was “on course” to getting justice.
On tomorrow’s governorship and House of Assembly polls, Obi said: “Watch out for character competence, capacity and compassion. The country needs to see competent people in positions to serve.
“So, do not vote blindly. We have some states we have some competent people. We have a competent, young, and dynamic man in Lagos that can do the job.
“We have one in Abia. I have visited those states where I think we have the people that are competent to rule.
“Out of the 28 states where the election for governorship is coming up on the 18th, we have about 6 or 8 where we have participants who can do the job.”
However, speaking with Arise TV, Shehu said: “98 or 99 percent of Nigerians voted in a free environment without fear or any sort of intimidation”.
Shehu said the reports of electoral violence were only “a few isolated cases”, adding that the election was an improvement on the previous polls in the country.
Shehu stressed: “The talks about violence, I have seen a few of these reports and I do not deny that.
“But to say that this election has been characterised by violence, nobody can justifiably say so. Yes, a few isolated cases, but all of the things we saw were significant departures from the past.
“For this, I believe this country has every reason to be thankful to the law enforcement agencies because they were effective and they made sure that 98, 99% percent of Nigerians voted in a free environment without fear or any sort of intimidation.”