ABUJA, March 2 (Reuters) – Nigerian presidential candidate Peter Obi said on Thursday he had won Saturday’s election, declared the official results fraudulent and promised to reclaim his mandate through legal means.
Bola Tinubu of the ruling party was declared the winner of the election in Africa’s most populous nation on Wednesday. According to official results, Tinubu won 37% of the vote, compared with 29% for the main opposition candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and 25% for Obi, an outsider popular with young and educated urban voters.
The opposition parties said the vote had been rigged after new technology that the electoral commission had promised would make the process more transparent instead malfunctioned, eroding trust.
“We won the election and we will prove it to Nigerians,” Obi said during a news conference at a hotel in the capital Abuja, making his first public remarks since he cast his ballot on Saturday.
“The good and hardworking people of Nigeria have again been robbed by our supposed leaders,” he said.
“I appeal to all Nigerians to remain peaceful, law-abiding and conduct themselves in a responsible manner.”
Nigeria has a long history of political violence, although the atmosphere has mostly been calm in the aftermath of the disputed vote.
Tinubu said on Wednesday the election was credible and that the reported problems had no impact on the overall outcome.
Obi questioned figures showing a low turnout at a time when there was a record number of registered voters.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said total votes cast were just under 25 million, out of 87 million people with voter identity cards and eligible to vote, giving a turnout rate of 29%.
Tinubu was declared the winner with 8.79 million votes. Nigeria has a population of more than 200 million.
Obi’s running mate had already indicated that Obi planned to challenge the election result in court.
There have been legal challenges to the outcome of past Nigerian presidential elections but none has succeeded.
(Reporting by Camillus Eboh, MacDonald Dzirutwe and Tim Cocks; Writing by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
