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By: Quadri Yahya
Former senator Dino Melaye has made the claim that the 2019 presidential aspirant, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar had 12.8 million votes in the 2019 general election.
Full Text:
A former Nigerian senator and prominent politician, Dino Melaye who represented Kogi West Senatorial district at the 8th National Assembly, has made the claim that the 2019 presidential aspirant under the platform of the People’s Democratic Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar – who is also aspiring to contest the forthcoming 2023 election – had 12.8 million votes in the 2019 general election.
Atiku was the presidential candidate of the PDP who contested and lost the 2019 election to the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari.
The former Vice President Atiku is also among the 17 aspirants jostling to clinch the PDP presidential ticket so as to contest in the forthcoming election in 2023.
There have been consultations nationwide as politicians are devising all tactics and propaganda to woo the electorates.
Senator Melaye, spokesman, Atiku Consultation Team quoted the statistics during Atiku’s visit to the PDP delegates and members in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
He said: “Atiku garnered 12.8 million votes despite the rigging, oppression of votes in 2019. Then, it would be stupid for us to throw 12.8 millions votes and experiment with others who have not even garnered one million votes in their lives”.
Earlier in May 14, at one of Atiku’s consultation visits to Rivers State, Melaye had urged delegates to support Atiku, when he boasted of the former Vice President’s “Eleven million votes in his (Atiku) pocket already and it will be unwise for any delegate to give his vote to somebody that is struggling to have some votes”.
Verification:
PLATFORM TIMES’s check on the website of the Independent National Electoral Commission finds that post 2019 Presidential Election, which the result was released on the 23rd February, 2019 which declared Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as the winner.
The electoral body published (pdf) that Buhari (APC) had a total votes of 15,191,847 (Fifteen million, one hundred and nineteen thousand, eight hundred and forty-seven) while the second most popular candidate Atiku (PDP) had 11,262,978 (Eleven million, two hundred and sixty-two thousand, nine hundred and seventy-eight).
PLATFORM TIMES also crosschecked the INEC reports with various media such as BBC and the statistics match.
Verdict:
PLATFORM TIMES verified that the claim by Dino Melaye is misleading and untrue.
