Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President and 2023 presidential candidate of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has expressed disbelief over the reported phone conversation between Antony Blinken , US Secretary of State and Bola Tinubu, Nigeria’s president elect.
Atiku who stated this through a tweet, frowned upon a situation where the US government will confer legitimacy on a winner from what he described as sham election
While stating that America is well briefed on matters of the election, Atiku said recognition from the US for the election outcome can be demoralising to citizens who believed in the sanctity of the ballot
His tweet :”I am in disbelief that
@SecBlinken
called Tinubu, a contradiction to the publicly stated position of the US on Nigeria’s 2023 presidential election. This is inconceivable considering that America, as the bastion of democracy, is well briefed on the sham election of February 25. To give legitimacy to the widely acknowledged fraudulent election in Nigeria can be demoralising to citizens who have hedged their bet on democracy and the sanctity of the ballot”
Blinken had tweeted recently that the American government has imposed visa restrictions on persons who undermined the democratic process in Nigeria. This position raised controversies on social media as many Nigerians sought to know the identities of those to suffer the visa restrictions
