Peter Obi won 2023 presidential election – Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal

CC™ Politico 

By Deji Komolafe

The former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal on Tuesday claimed that the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, won the February 25 presidential election.

According to Lawal, the election was not won by the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu who was declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

He further stated that available factual data as aggregated from several independent sources indicated that Obi got the majority votes while the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar came second in the election.

Lawal noted that President Tinubu came a distant third in the number of votes scored.

The former SGF in a statement released on Tuesday said, “I have resisted the temptation to engage in the contemporary political discourse since the May 2023 election faux pas.

“I did this for two reasons; the first being that as an active player in the drama, I needed time to analyze and digest the data that led to the outcome(s) so I could arrive at an informed decision; the second, being that the rainy season had just set in and it was necessary that I focused my attention on my farms which are the mainstay of my livelihood.

“The current topical issues for political discourse and inquiry are whether or not Bola Tinubu won the presidential election and/or that he was apriori, qualified to participate in the election given his murky biodata as is now being publicly unveiled daily in an avalanche.

“My answer to the first inquiry is that regardless of whatever INEC or Appeal Court said or did, Bola did not win the election.

“Right from the start of the campaigns, Bola knew he was not going to win the election in a free and fair contest so he decided to go by all means.

“Available factual data as aggregated from several independent sources indicate that Obi got the majority votes while Atiku came second. Bola came a distant third in the number of votes scored.

“My answer to the second inquiry is that given the now unfolding deluge of uncomplimentary information about who or what he actually is, ordinarily, sound ethics and morality should have convinced him to voluntarily excuse himself from participation in the election.

“ But this, notwithstanding, I believe he still has time and opportunity to save himself this public humiliation and embarrassment to his person, both locally and internationally by resigning so that he can give more attention to his health.

“After all, no one knows about the truism of these severely embarrassing and humiliating exposures about his person than the man himself.

“Leadership is all about integrity; sound pedigree, trustworthiness and the ability to unite and instil hope and confidence in the people one seeks to lead. In these qualities, most Nigerians are in total agreement that Bola has them in very very short supply indeed.

“But now, six months down the line, the chicken has come home to roost as Nigerians have come to the realization that we have not got what we deserve politically.

“Confusion and despondency are now all over the nation as no one trusts the government to do what it says it will do. No one trusts the leader, and no one trusts appointees who are appointed as rewards for their roles in the election or who had in the past helped him in his life.

“ Bola the President and his group are now in government and are in full control of Nigeria’s vast resources and opportunities. They are enjoying their offices while Nigerians languish in insecurity, poverty and hopelessness.

“During the campaign, Bola mouthed some platitudes about competence; but we are so far yet to see it reflected in his political appointments. It seems more like he is rewarding people who supported him to get the Presidency at all costs.

“This band of appointees that Bola is assembling into his government don’t care about Nigeria at all.

“Fuel prices will continue to gallop upwards until only they can afford it; the Naira will continue to race downhill in a free-fall until only they can afford anything in the market; insecurity will continue its escalation until every community in the nation is consumed by it.

“Just to mention a few of these appointees: take insecurity for example, what do you expect an accountant to do as Minister of Defense?

“ Was he not that one who was governor while Bello Turji et al freely terrorized Zamfara State? What about his CBN Governor with a CV; a one-time Chairman of a little-known bank employing 300 people in less than 12 branches clustered in the South-South and South East regions?

“Is there any doubt left as to his lack of qualification and experience for the job than that his first policy statement was to remove foreign exchange restrictions for the importation of 43 agricultural and related products?

“Certainly, Nigerians are in for a short thrift. The people running the government do not care a hoot about the Nigerian people; their cronies are the petroleum industry players while some are the banking system players so a free fall of the Naira and an unregulated upward movement of oil prices both work for more profits for them.

“By the way, has anyone noticed the intolerance for free speech and dictatorship that is creeping upon us? Has anyone noticed the actions of the National Broadcasting Commission of late?”

Decision 2023: Nigeria at a crossroads as a known drug baron and his running mate, a chief sponsor of Islamic terrorists, seem poised to occupy Aso Rock

CC™ Viewpoint

By Boyejo A. Coker - Chief Editor

It was exactly eight years ago (to date) that a certain Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, former Senator as well as former Executive Governor of Lagos State, stepped onto the scene at a campaign rally in Southwest Nigeria. The candidate at that time was the current President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Rtd. General Muhammadu Buhari, a failed presidential candidate who had lost his bid for the presidency on three prior attempts to win the plum job of running the affairs of Africa's largest economy and democracy. 

Buhari's campaign was at best fledgling at the time, and needed some infusion of pizzazz, energy and inspiration. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu stepped to the plate and the rest, as they say, is history. 

It was the same Asiwaju Bola Tinubu that sold Buhari to us as a reformed dictator (more or less a tyrant in actuality). Yes, the same Buhari that eight years later has essentially taken Nigeria back to the Stone Age. 

Under Buhari and the current APC government, Nigeria overtook India in having the largest number of people in poverty, in the world. The certified disaster that has been the Buhari administration should in most political climates spell disaster for the ruling party, but in Nigerian politics, the ruling party always has the upper hand - as they use practically every instrument and organ of government at their disposal to hold on to power. 

That last line is actually quite instructive, as it speaks to the arrogance exhibited by the APC hierarchy in presenting a Muslim-Muslim ticket as its choice for President and Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. To understand the importance of this dynamic, Nigeria is a multi-religious nation with the two main religions, Christianity and Islam, roughly evenly split. 

That is why it has always been the unwritten rule to balance the leadership ticket evenly between those two prominent religions, for the sake of national unity and peaceful co-existence. 

Furthermore, the running mate to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the APC flag bearer, is a known sponsor of Boko Haram and other adjacent Islamic terrorist groups. Kashim Shettima, is a former governor of Borno State in the northern part of Nigeria, and it is a documented fact that a notorious terrorist, Kabiru Sokoto, years ago, was found and arrested in the home of the former Borno State governor turned vice presidential candidate.

The highly questionable background of Shettima fits right in with the equally questionable background of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the APC presidential candidate. Apart from Tinubu’s unverifiable education and birth records, he is also a well documented drug baron and money launderer. 

The APC had the glorious opportunity to present Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo as its flag bearer for the presidency of the nation, and then balance it out with a credible running mate of Islamic persuasion from the north. That they chose these two men of highly questionable backgrounds and character for the top two offices in the nation, speaks to an acerbic dysfunction within the ruling party, and typifies either a lack of requisite foresight, or downright arrogance that has come to embody the brazen insensitivity of the ruling party, to the yearnings and desires of well meaning Nigerians. 

A truly Democratic dispensation was bequeathed to President Muhammadu Buhari. Former President Goodluck Jonathan conceded defeat in 2015 to Buhari rather than shed a single drop of Nigerian blood. Under this APC government, the will of the people has been overturned repeatedly by kangaroo courts and tribunals, whose judges and officials have been compromised by the incendiary and inordinate ambitions of defeated APC candidates, with the acquiescence of the Buhari administration.

Things have undoubtedly fallen apart and it is clear that the center cannot hold. The die is indeed cast regarding the future of Nigeria’s corporate existence.