Strong opposition to President Buhari from Atiku Abubakar

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Nigeria’s main opposition party has challenged the results of the recent elections on the grounds of vote manipulation by the ruling party – the All Progessives’ Congress.

With ballots from 36 states counted, Buhari’s All Progressives Congress (APC) gathered 15.2 million votes against 11.3 million for his main rival, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

“Muhammadu Buhari of the APC, having satisfied the requirement of the law and scored the highest number of votes is hereby declared the winner,” Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC),

However, PDP chair Uche Secondus called the count “incorrect and unacceptable”, alleging that data from voter card readers were manipulated.

The election took place in a disruptive environment: it was delayed at the last minute by a week and, since it was held, 47 people have been killed. Yet, no independent observer has cited electoral fraud.