Buba Galadima, a chieftain of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), says the party did not challenge the results of the February 25 presidential election because “Nigeria must move forward”.
Speaking in a chat with Arise TV on Wednesday, Galadima claimed NNPP has the highest chance of overturning APC’s victory if a suit was filed, but the part decided not to challenge the election.
He added that the party did not want to “destroy this election” and give an opportunity to some “people who are waiting to establish an interim government”.
Rabiu Kwankwaso, the presidential candidate of NNPP, finished fourth in the presidential election which was won by Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
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Both Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) have challenged the outcome of the election and submitted petitions to contest Tinubu’s victory.
Although NNPP had initially called for the cancellation of the election, citing voter suppression, intimidation, and vote buying, the party never made its protest of the presidential poll official in court.
“I have said that if there is anybody that can go to court successfully and challenge the mandate of the APC, it is the NNPP,” Galadima said.
“One is because the word ‘NNPP’ was not on the ballot and it is enough to cancel that election. And our logo was unrecognisable. Also, the cumulative votes of Nigerians since 1999 have always been about 32 million to 34 million votes, but this time there were less than 20 million voters.
“Our claim was that the reduction in number is because those who came to vote for Kwankwaso did not vote because they could not see his logo on the ballot.
“So, if we go to court to destroy this election, who is the beneficiary? Nigeria must move forward. We also know that they are some people who are waiting to establish an interim government and we never wanted to give them the opportunity.”
