Babachir Lawal, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) during former President Muhammadu Buhari’s first tenure, has accused Bola Tinubu of becoming president at all costs and consequently robbing the candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, of his mandate in the 2023 presidential election.
Lawal’s claim is contrary to the declaration of President Tinubu as the winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the subsequent validation of his electoral victory by the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.
In a statement on Tuesday, Lawal alleged that data from independent sources indicated that Obi had the majority of votes while Atiku came in second in the election.
According to him, Bola Tinubu came in a distant third in the number of votes scored.
The statement partly reads, “I have resisted the temptation to engage in 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 I needed to focus 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 whether he was, apriori, qualified to participate in the election given his murky biodata, which is now being publicly unveiled daily in an avalanche.
“My answer to the first inquiry is that regardless of whatever INEC or the 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, indicates that Obi got the majority of votes while Atiku came in second. Bola came a distant third in the number of votes scored.”
The former SGF also demanded the president’s resignation to save himself from further public humiliation and embarrassment.
“My answer to the second inquiry is that given the now unfolding deluge of uncomplimentary information about who or what he 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 more 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 instill 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 short supply indeed,” the statement added.
