“When Alhaji Atiku Abubakar talks about statistical impossibilities, I don’t want to call him a poor student of statistics. But talking about statistical impossibilities, I invite you to reflect on the number of new registered voters," Oshiomhole said.
Adams Oshiomhole, National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), stopped short of calling Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a “poor student of statistics” on Thursday.
At a press conference held in Abuja to analyse the 2019 presidential election, Oshiomhole specifically referred to Atiku’s statement rejecting the result of the presidential election on the basis of “statistical impossibilities”, among other reasons.
He congratulated APC supporters and Nigerians in general, just as he commiserated with the families of those who lost their lives during the election, and called on government to bring those behind the violence to justice.
He went on to say Atiku deserved to lose in the election, as he is a candidate of “doubtful integrity”.
His words: “I believe that what happened last Saturday was a referendum between a man of integrity and a man of doubtful integrity and Nigerians have resolved the issue satisfactorily and we believe Nigerians have spoken.
“However, yesterday, the PDP candidate who lost, and who was a signatory to the peace accord, went into this race knowing that Nigeria cannot possibly elect two presidents. Only one president will emerge.
“Having suffered defeat, which I believe he deserved, he went on to say that he rejects the result and adducing very laughable argument as the basis for his decision. But I have found out that in this country, you recycle lie over and over, some people begin to think that there is truth in it. The conventional wisdom is that there is no smoke without fire. But in Nigerian politics, there is huge smoke and yet, there is not fire at all.
“Now, I want to speak to some facts as we know them and I challenge you as members of the media to crosscheck from your own records, as a way of enabling yourselves to debunk effortlessly the falsehood that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar tried to parrot yesterday in order to discredit what otherwise represents the very peaceful election, in spite of those isolated incidents and I am happy that the international community, as well as the Nigerian observers, are unanimous that this election and no election anywhere in the world is perfect. We have people in some parts of the western world who are leaders of democracy, who are still conducting enquiry into how their own last election was conducted. So, it’s not about whether this election was perfect. It is whether it is substantially free and fair and whether indeed, it represents the will of the Nigerian people.
“I am convinced as INEC has announced that this election reflects the will of the Nigerian people and that for us is something for which we beat our chest and we congratulate the great people of Nigeria. Alhaji Atiku Abubakar describes what he calls statistical impossibilities and he claimed that the two zones where he is strongest, that votes in those areas were smaller, and that the margin of victory was also small. He specifically referred to the South-South and the South-East. I want to refresh the minds of Nigerians and indeed, all those who are interested, by just rolling out the voting pattern since 1999.”
Oshiomhole went on to reel out figures from elections in past years, and how the card reader had affected those votes, adding that “When Alhaji Atiku Abubakar talks about statistical impossibilities, I don’t want to call him a poor student of statistics. But talking about statistical impossibilities, I invite you to reflect on the number of new registered voters.”