A support group, No Alternative To Tinubu 2023 (NATT 2023), has refuted claims that the Feb. 25 presidential election was rigged in favour of the president-elect, Bola Tinubu.

Vincent Uba, the National Co-ordinator, NATT 2023, stated this in a statement on Monday in Abuja.

Mr Uba described the election as credible, saying it was wrong to accuse the All Progressives Congress (APC) of rigging the election.

He said it was illogical for the opposition parties to accuse the APC of wrongdoing, going by upsets and surprises recorded at the election.

Mr Uba said that as the ruling party, with 21 state governors going into the presidential election, the APC was defeated in 12 states when the results were announced.

“It, therefore, becomes ironical to accuse the same APC of election rigging. The question to be asked then is, where did the APC rig the election, and in whose favour?

“The party candidate lost in his state of Lagos, lost in Katsina, the state of the sitting president, in Nasarawa, the state of the party’s National Chairman and Plateau, the state of the party’s campaign Director-General.

“What is certain about the election is its competitive nature, which went to the wires.

“Out of the four front-runners in the election, the candidate of the APC was the only one that lost his state,” he said.

Mr Uba added: “Yet, the same party is accused of rigging the election, in which it could not rig for its candidate to win his state.

“Meanwhile, the other three front-runners won their respective states in landslide manners without questioning.

“He who seeks equity must come to justice with clean hands and you don’t live in a glass house and be throwing stones.”

He asked if it bothered anyone that the LP candidate won in the five states of the South East with between 80 per cent and 95 per cent of the total votes.

“How come no other candidate could achieve such a feat in his region in the same election?”

He said that before the election, the two opposition parties claimed they were very popular and had strong support bases across the country to win the election convincingly.

Mr Uba said while the APC never argued with them nor took their boasts for granted, going into the elections, the ruling party campaigned vigorously and tirelessly in the nooks and crannies of the country to call out the votes.

“When the results were announced, the party triumphed, though not without severe bruises arising from the rigging machinery of the PDP and LP, respectively.”

He added that the PDP also defeated the ruling party in most states in the North, including the states where the APC had sitting governors.

While commending the opposition parties for choosing to seek redress in court, he advised them to be prepared to prove their allegations in court.

“It Is the right thing to do in a democratic dispensation rather than throw the country into crisis and violence arising from street protests.

“However, it is important to advise the duo to beware of their journey to court, so they do not end up shooting themselves in the foot.”

Mr Uba said the President-elect had since commenced strategic planning and composition of teams that would deliver the dividends of his administration to Nigerians.

(NAN)