Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 25 election, Atiku Abubakar, has expressed concern over the telephone conversation between Secretary of State of the United States of America, Antony Blinken and Mr Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who was announced as winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Atiku, who alongside the PDP, is challenging INEC’s choice of Tinubu as winner of the election on the grounds that votes that ought to count in his favour were stolen, said Blinken’s telephone conversation with Tinubu was against the democratic credentials of the US government.
In a tweet on his handle @atiku, the PDP candidate said Blinken’s about-face was demoralising as he gave legitimacy to voter fraud.
According to him, it was surprising that the US Secretary of State would make such a call despite being aware of the nasty details of vote theft that characterised the February 25 election.
In his words, Atiku said the telephone conversation was a “contradiction” of the stand of the United States government on transparency and integrity in elections.
Atiku said: “I am in disbelief that @SecBlinken called Tinubu in contradiction to the publicly stated position of the US on Nigeria’s 2023 presidential election.
“This is inconceivable considering that America, as the bastion of democracy, is well briefed on the sham election of February 25.
“To give legitimacy to the widely acknowledged fraudulent election in Nigeria can be demoralising to citizens who have hedged their bet on democracy and the sanctity of the ballot”.
Blinken had, in a widely publicised telephone conversation, extended fellowship of the US government to Tinubu, urging him to build stronger ties with the government.
