Nigerian presidential candidate Peter Obi said on Thursday he had won Saturday’s election, called Bola Tinubu’s victory fraudulent and promised to claim the top job through legal means.
Tinubu, the ruling party candidate, was declared president-elect of Africa’s most populous nation on Wednesday, having won 37% of the vote. He said the election was credible and the reported problems had had no impact on the overall outcome.
The main opposition candidate, Atiku Abubakar, received 29% of the vote, while Obi, an outsider popular with young and educated urban voters, got 25%, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“Let me assure all Nigerians that we will explore all legal and peaceful options to reclaim our mandate,” Obi, 61, told a news conference in the capital Abuja, making his first public remarks since he cast his ballot on Saturday.
“We won the election and we will prove it to Nigerians,” he said.
The opposition parties said the vote had been rigged after new technology that INEC had promised would make the process more transparent instead malfunctioned, eroding trust.
“The good and hardworking people of Nigeria have again been robbed by our supposed leaders,” said Obi. He did not go into further detail on his accusations, saying evidence would be presented in court.
There have been numerous legal challenges to the outcome of past Nigerian presidential elections but none has succeeded.
The row over the election comes as Nigeria is struggling with Islamist insurgencies, an epidemic of kidnappings for ransom, conflicts between farmers and herders, high inflation, widespread food insecurity and a shortage of cash that has caused chaos in people’s daily lives.
