Babachir Lawal, a former secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), says Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) won the 2023 presidential election.
Lawal, in a statement on Tuesday, said Atiku Abubakar, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), came second, while Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) came a distant third in the poll.
“I have resisted the temptation to engage in the contemporary political discourse since the May 2023 election faux pas,” the statement reads.
“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 a priori, 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.”