The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi has said that he would not be cowed into accepting the results as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as God’s wish for the country.
While reiterating his utmost respect for traditional rulers and religious leaders, the former Anambra State governor said on Arise News TV on Monday that he disagreed with the narrative being pushed by some commentators that the outcome of the recent polls was the wish of God for the country.
He said: “I’m very respectful to them and I think that they should be respected for what they represent to society. But I disagree with them.What they are actually preaching is the problem of Nigeria. The problem of Nigeria is accepting wrongdoing and accepting what is unacceptable.
“That is using God’s name in vain. That is not what God is saying. God said do not use my name in vain.
“So, what they are saying is not God’s wish, it is not God’s plan for Nigeria.
“So are they saying that the 133 million Nigerians who are poor is God’s wish? Why don’t we accept that 95 million Nigerians living in absolute poverty is God’s wish? It is God’s wish that your children are kidnapped? It is God’s wish that we have collapsed Primary Health Care making us the country with the highest infant mortality.
“That’s not what God’s will says. God’s will is that when you do the right thing then in the end it is well”.
Obi said the country has laws guiding the conduct of elections and that it is not the wish of God that they should be violated.
He said: “We have clear laws about the conduct of the election, it’s not God’s wish that we do the wrong thing. We want God’s wish to be truly God’s wish.
“Is it God’s wish that we steal or conduct the wrong election”?
Despite being previously viewed as a paperweight, Obi and the Labour Party stunned their doubters.
His Labour Party pulled over six million votes, trailing Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party and the now President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress.
Obi said he is not interested in challenging the “outcome” of the election but more in the process in which the election was conducted.
He said INEC, as a public institution, should always submit itself to scrutiny from Nigerians.
