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Rufai Oseni has raised questions about the evidence behind Peter Obi’s assertion that he won the 2023 presidential election.
The journalist’s argument is simple: if Obi is certain that the election produced a different winner from the result announced by the authorities, there should be records capable of demonstrating how he arrived at that conclusion.
Speaking on Arise News, Oseni focused less on the political argument surrounding the election and more on the evidence supporting Obi’s position.
He said:
“Mr Peter Obi, it is best you do not say things if you do not have the evidence. I must have to repeat it, because when you say that I won the election, you don’t have the evidence to back it up. Then people do not take what you say seriously.”
Oseni also raised questions about the information that may have been available to Obi and his team during and after the election.
His point was that a presidential candidate who believes the official result does not reflect what happened at the polls would ordinarily be expected to have his own records showing the results gathered from different locations.
That is why he asked whether Obi had carried out a detailed examination of the results before publicly declaring himself the winner.
“Didn’t you have back-end analysis of result by result before you make the claim? Where are all your own data spreadsheets on the back end that assert your claim? Where is your own back-end collation that asserts your claim?”.
The question goes to the heart of the dispute. It is one thing for a candidate to believe that the election was not accurately reflected in the final result, but another to demonstrate that position with independently verifiable figures.
Obi was the Labour Party candidate in the 2023 presidential election and finished third in the official result announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission. Bola Tinubu was declared the winner, while Atiku Abubakar came second.
Obi and other candidates challenged the outcome through the courts, but the presidential election petitions tribunal dismissed the petitions, and the Supreme Court later upheld Tinubu’s victory.
Oseni's latest comments, however, are centred on Obi’s present claim that he actually won the election. Rather than debating the political implications of that statement, he wants to know what data Obi can point to in support of it.
The journalist argued that personal conviction cannot replace evidence when making a claim about the outcome of a national election.
“So it is very spurious to say I won something, but when they say where is the evidence, no evidence. I mean you might feel the urge that you won but if you don’t have the evidence to back it up then you didn’t win”, he stated.
The exchange leaves the focus on a straightforward question: what records, figures or independent analysis does Obi have to substantiate his claim that he won the 2023 presidential election?.
For Oseni, that evidence would be necessary if the claim is to be taken seriously beyond political debate.
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