Peter Obi, the former Labour Party candidate, has acknowledged he has no evidence that he won 2023 presidential election, yet he insists he was the true winner.
“There’s no evidence. Everything is not based on evidence,” Obi told BBC Africa when asked to back his long-held claim that the February 2023 poll was rigged.
He did not retreat from the claim. “I won the election and that’s where I will end,” he said.
Courts rejected his challenge
Obi, now the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate for the 2027 presidential race, has repeatedly alleged electoral malpractice, even though the courts dismissed his legal challenge.
“I don’t like going back to the past. I sustain what I said,” he said.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress the winner with 8,794,726 votes. Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party came second with 6,984,520, and Obi third with 6,101,533.
Obi and Atiku both petitioned the Presidential Election Petition Court, which dismissed their cases. The Supreme Court later upheld Tinubu’s victory.
Fuel subsidy and corruption
On fuel subsidy, Obi said his position had not shifted and that his remarks on how to remove it had been misread.
“I’ve not changed. What has changed is that whenever I talk about methodology, people say, oh, it has changed,” he said.
Asked about corruption, Obi pledged to lead the fight personally if elected. “If you are not stealing, if you are not involved, your wife and family are not involved, you reduce it by 50 percent,” he said.
He contrasted himself with former President Muhammadu Buhari. “He wasn’t in charge. The difference is this. I would be in charge,” Obi said.
No plan to step aside
Obi also rejected calls for him to withdraw if opposition parties rally behind a single candidate for the 2027 election.
“We don’t need to step down. We need to do the right thing,” he said.
— ANN
