Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 25 elections, on Wednesday paid an unscheduled visit to former military president, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (retired) in Minna, Niger State.
Atiku, who arrived the Minna International Airport at about 11 am was received by the former governor of Niger State, Dr Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu. He then went to the hilltop home of General Ibrahim Babangida.
Channels Television gathered that the meeting between both men lasted for over one hour.
It is believed that both men would have discussed the February 25 presidential election among other things. Atiku has publicly expressed reservations with the conduct and outcome of the said elections and has hired a battery of eminent jurists to pursue the matter in court.
Atiku had complained publicly about the purported inability of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a free, fair, and acceptable election and called for the cancellation of the result.
He was also in Minna to welcome General Babangida who had recently returned from a foreign medical trip.
Atiku lost in the presidential election to his main rival, Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Tinubu polled 8,794,726 votes. Tinubu came tops in 12 of Nigeria’s 36 states and secured significant numbers in several other states to claim the highest number of votes.
Atiku who has now run for president six times, got 6,984,520 votes, while the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, who, in less than a year, galvanised young voters in a manner described as unprecedented in Nigerian politics, finished the race with 6,101,533.
Both Atiku and Obi are not happy with the outcome of the election and have approached the court to challenge the result.
