Less than 24 hours since President Muhammadu Buhari won the 2019 presidential election to rule Nigeria for another four years, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has presented him with a certificate of return.
The commission has also presented a certificate of return to Professor Yemi Osinbajo, the country’s Vice President.
The certificates were issued to them at the International Conference Center, ICC, in Abuja by Mahmood Yakubu, the INEC Chairman, on Wednesday.
INEC, had on Wednesday morning at the ICC Collation Centre in Abuja declared Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, as the winner.
Buhari polled 15,191,847 votes, while Atiku Abubakar, the PDP presidential candidate scored 11,262,978.
Meanwhile, Atiku Abubakar, the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, has rejected the outcome of the February 23 presidential election.
Abubakar said the election was not free, fair and that it was full of irregularities.
The former Vice President, therefore, said that he would challenge the outcome in court.
Atiku, in a statement he personally signed early Wednesday morning, said if he had lost in a free and fair election, he would have called, President Buhari, the winner within seconds of his being aware of the outcome of the exercise.
He said, “If I had lost in a free and fair election, I would have called the victor within seconds of my being aware of his victory to offer not just my congratulations, but my services to help unite Nigeria by being a bridge between the North and the South.
“However, in my democratic struggles for the past three decades, I have never seen our democracy so debased as it was on Saturday, February 23, 2019. 2007 was a challenge, but the late President Yar’Adua was remorseful. In 2019, it is sad to see those who trampled on democracy thumping their noses down on the Nigerian people.
“Consequently, I hereby reject the result of the February 23, 2019 sham election and will be challenging it in court.”