The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr Peter Obi, has declared that the outcome of the February 25, 2023 presidential election was not God’s wish, insisting that he will challenge the process in court.

According to Obi, God wishes only what is right even as he advised Nigerians urging him to accept the election outcome to desist.

Obi said that the problem of Nigeria was accepting what is wrong and unacceptable as God’s wish for the country.

Obi, who was a guest on the AriseNews Channel’s Morning Show on Monday, was reacting to the position of some Nigerians that the outcome of the February 25, 2023 presidential election, should be seen and accepted as the wish of God.

The LP candidate said that God doesn’t wish bad things for people and it’s these things that the Obidient Movement was trying to change.

“The problem of Nigeria is accepting what is unacceptable. That’s not God’s wish.

God’s wish is when you do the right thing. Is it God’s wish that we remain poor as a country despite his abundant blessings on us?,” he asked.

He said that Nigeria has remained decadent in a continuous state of moral decline

because Nigerians keep accepting what is wrong and dragging God into it, but noted that the Obidient Movement was in the system to change the narrative and create a new egalitarian society.

The former Anambra State governor said it’s a saddening fact that after 63 years as a nation, Nigeria was yet unable to conduct a good election, describing the February 25 presidential election as the worse in Nigeria’s history considering that the Electoral Act 2022 was enacted to ensure free, fair and credible elections.

Obi said that while he was pursuing his mandate through legal and peaceful means, it’s disheartening that rule of law was being treated with levity by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which is a public institution maintained by taxpayers’ money.

He reiterated that what he is challenging was the process and he does not hope to back out until the right thing was done because doing and accepting the wrong thing is what has kept us down as a nation.

On some insinuations about him from some characters speaking for their principals, Obi said since they were not on the ballot, he would prefer to speak when those he contested with speak, but said that the 97 per cent votes he got in Anambra State shouldn’t disturb anybody because he was expecting 100% votes because the people know him and believe in him.

He noted further that he has been truthful to them. Ditto for the South-East and other states where he received the lion’s share of the votes cast because they believe and trust in him.

“They forgot that I got over 95% in Anambra state in 2019 when I was a running mate, in 2023 I was the main candidate, I am even surprised that I did not get 100%,” Obi said.

On the claim of some persons that he took away PDP votes and helped Bola Tinubu to win election, Obi said he was not contesting to help anybody but to win and by records, Nigerians made that happened despite the abracadabra by the INEC.

Obi also gave clarifications on his support for Labour Party governorship candidates in some states, saying that he supports LP ticket holders in Enugu, Abia, Lagos, and Plateau states among others 100%, and directed his supporters to vote for them in the March 18, 2023 elections.

On the ethnic tension in Lagos State over his victory on the February 25 poll ahead of the governorship election, Obi said it’s not ethnic but some mischievous persons were trying to create such an impression pointing out that many more non-Igbos and Yorubas who share the aspiration for new Nigeria voted for him.

He explained that even if Igbos voted for him, this was not the first time they were voting for people, saying they had voted massively like this for Olusegun Obasanjo even when he lost an election in his region and they also gave Jonathan more votes than South-South states and all these brouhahas did not happen.

On the possible partnership with the PDP, Obi said that there was nothing like that but that “we are challenging a process that is wrong created by INEC to serve a particular purpose.”

Former Chief of Army Staff retired Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai says the emergence of President-elect Bola Tinubu reflects the will of Nigerians.

Mr Buratai, former Nigerian ambassador to the Benin Republic and a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), congratulated Mr Tinubu in a statement on Monday.

He said the ex-Lagos governor’s victory clearly reflected the people’s will.

Mr Buratai commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) under the leadership of Mahmood Yakubu for presiding over an election in a country with the largest democracy in the African continent.

“Let me begin by congratulating Nigerian voters who turned out on the 25th of February 2023 to exercise their civic duty and voted en masse Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the APC as our president-elect. It is a clear reflection of the will of the people,” he said.

The former army chief also called on Nigerians to vote for all APC candidates nationwide in the March 18 governorship and state assembly elections.

He stated that the vote of all Nigerians had the power to make a difference and consolidate the wise choice made during the presidential election.

“At this juncture, I say with all sense of responsibility that our collective future is assured under the renewed hope, vision and mission of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. I believe the president-elect is a man of capacity, empathy, vision, and all that it takes to lead Nigeria to the promised land,” Mr Buratai explained.

The former army chief added, “Therefore, I encourage all Nigerians to vote for the APC in the forthcoming governorship elections at the state levels so that the APC can have a majority at all levels. Do not be part of the minority opposition, as we already have the APC at the centre.”

Mr Buratai noted that continuity was achieved at the federal level with the emergence of Mr Tinubu as the president-elect from the APC.

“Therefore, for effective policy implementation, progress’ security and development of our country, also vote APC at the states levels. Nigeria shall be great by the grace of God,” he said.