March 30, (THEWILL) – Authorities in the United States have granted permission to supporters of Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), to use a park to protest the outcome of the 2023 presidential election in Nigeria.
The permit allows about 100 protesters to converge on the iconic Lafayette Park in Washington DC on April 3, for four hours. Located across the street from the White House, the park is a prominent fixture in American history.
“We in the diaspora are demonstrating to call the attention of the US Government and Biden administration to not recognize the winner,” the organisers said.
The United States Department of Interior said the organisers and anyone at the protest must “comply with all reasonable directions of the United States Park Police”.
The protesters were warned that “all sideways, walkways and roadways must remain unobstructed to allow for the reasonable use of these areas by pedestrians, vehicles, and other park visitors.”
The protest is organised by a pro-Peter Obi group, Nigerian American Coalition for Justice and Democracy Inc.
Obi, a former Governor of Anambra State, lost the February 25 presidential election to Bola Ahmed Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on Wednesday, March 1, declared Tinubu as the winner of the presidential election.
INEC said Tinubu polled 8,794,726 votes to defeat his closest rival, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 6,984,520 votes.
LP’s Peter Obi had 6,101,533 votes to come third, while the candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso, scored 1,496,687 votes.
Atiku and Obi said the election was flawed and accused the ruling APC and the electoral body of rigging the ballot in Tinubu’s favour.
Both candidates have asked the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) to order INEC to pronounce them as the winner of the election and declare that Tinubu was not qualified to run for office of Nigeria president.
