Prophet Isa El-Buba has once again stirred controversy over Nigeria’s 2023 presidential election, insisting that the election was won by Labour Party candidate Peter Obi and his running mate, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed.
Speaking during the Micon Podcast, El-Buba declared: “The election in 2023 was won by Peter Obi and Datti.” His statement has reignited one of the most contentious political arguments in Nigeria: whether the official result of the February 25, 2023 presidential election accurately reflected the votes cast by Nigerians.
The prophet further argued that accepting the position of the Supreme Court does not necessarily mean that Nigerians must abandon their own interpretation of the events surrounding the election.
“Just because we are supposed to agree with what the Supreme Court says without arguing doesn't mean we don't know the facts. The records are there that Peter Obi won and Datti won,” he said.
However, it is important to distinguish between a political claim and the legal position established by Nigeria’s electoral institutions and courts.
According to the result declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress won the election with 8,794,726 votes, followed by Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party with 6,984,520 votes, while Peter Obi of the Labour Party was recorded in third place with 6,101,533 votes.
Obi and the Labour Party rejected the declaration and challenged Tinubu’s victory in court. Their petition did not merely ask the court to recognise Obi as the winner based on the original figures announced by INEC. The petition raised several grounds, including allegations that Tinubu was not qualified to contest, that the election was affected by corrupt practices and non-compliance with the Electoral Act, and that Tinubu was not duly elected by a majority of lawful votes.
The petition also contained an alternative request for the presidential election to be cancelled and a fresh election conducted. At the same time, Obi’s lawyers asked the tribunal to determine that Obi had obtained the highest number of lawful votes and should consequently be declared the winner.
The courts ultimately did not accept Obi’s challenge, and Tinubu’s victory remained legally upheld.
Nevertheless, the political debate has never completely disappeared. Supporters of Obi continue to argue that irregularities surrounding the election, disputes over result transmission and the handling of electoral materials raise questions about whether the officially declared figures represented the true outcome.
The comments following El-Buba’s statement demonstrate just how divided Nigerians remain.
One commenter argued that Tinubu should challenge anyone who continues to claim that Obi won the election to produce evidence supporting the allegation. Another insisted that Obi “clearly won” the election, while others questioned why such claims continue to be made after the matter was litigated in court.
One particularly pointed comment sarcastically suggested that El-Buba must have had access to INEC’s electronic results system to know that Obi won, while another accused some religious figures of attempting to explain away failed predictions that Obi would win.
There were also comments from individuals claiming to have witnessed irregularities during the election. One person who identified himself as an INEC officer alleged that legislative results could be uploaded while presidential results allegedly encountered difficulties, using the experience to argue that the process was manipulated.
Those allegations, however, remain claims unless independently established by credible evidence.
Ultimately, Prophet Isa El-Buba’s statement has reopened an old political wound. For Obi supporters, the 2023 election remains a symbol of a result they believe did not reflect the popular will. For others, the matter was settled through the constitutional electoral and judicial processes.
What remains indisputable is that the 2023 presidential election generated an extraordinary level of controversy—and, more than three years later, arguments over who truly won continue to dominate Nigeria’s political conversation.
0 Comments