2023 Election: Peter Obi would have come fourth if… – Buhari’s minister

Hadi Sirika, the Minister of Aviation, on Tuesday said the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso would have beaten Peter Obi, the candidate of the Labour Party in the February 25, 2023 election, had ‘the Igbo votes’ not “helped” the former Anambra State governor.

POLITICS NIGERIA reports that a total of 18 presidential candidates contested the election which held across the 36 states of Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

Professor Mahmood Yakubu, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced on March 1 that Tinubu, a former Lagos State governor and the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) won the election with the majority of votes cast in 36 states of Nigeria and the FCT.

The APC candidate polled 8,794,726 votes to defeat fellow contenders – Atiku Abubakar of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) who polled 6,984,520 votes, Obi had 6,101,533 votes to come third and Kwankwaso with 1,496,687 votes.

Of the 36 states and FCT, Tinubu, Obi, and Atiku won 12 states each while Kwankwaso won only Kano State.

But in a Twitter post, Sirika claimed that without the Igbo votes, “NNPP will beat Labour Party”.

“Watched Peter Obi on Arise TV asking ‘are there Igbos in Plateau, Lagos and Nasarawa?’ Insinuating that, it wasn’t Igbos that voted him.

“It is more correct to thank them for the votes. Minus them, NNPP will beat LP. 4 out of 20 Lagos House of Reps members in 2019 are Igbo,” Sirika wrote on his genuine handle.