Labour Party candidate Peter Obi, who came third in February’s presidential election, has acknowledged that his legal battle to overturn the result is over.
His attempt, alongside second-placed candidate Atiku Abubakar, to annul Bola Tinubu’s victory failed in the Supreme Court last month.
In a unanimous ruling, judges dismissed his claim of widespread rigging.
According to Obi, the ruling was a “total breach of confidence”
Obi, who is the leader of the Labour Party, told journalists in Abuja, that despite the unanimous judgement his dream for a new Nigeria had not ended.
In September, the Election Petition Court upheld Mr Tinubu’s victory and the opposition then appealed to Nigeria’s highest court.
But the Supreme Court said that the opposition challenges had “no merit”
The electoral dispute had put Africa’s most populous country on the edge after the general election.
Reacting to the judgement on Monday, Mr Obi said the verdict damaged the confidence Nigerians have in the judiciary.
The former Anambra state governor rejected the judgement, saying it contradicted the “overwhelming evidence of rigging” presented before the court.
He described that evidence as “hefty allegations” which should not be treated with levity.
“As a party and as candidates, Datti and I have now exhausted all legal and constitutional remedies available to us,” Mr Obi said, describing the Supreme Court’s judgement as another beginning in “our quest for a better country”.
“We shall now expand the confines of our message of hope to the rest of the country,” he added.
But in a swift response, Bayo Onanuga, a presidential aide, described Mr Obi’s remarks against the court verdict as “false claims and innuendos”.
Mr Onanuga said the Labour Party leader, having admitted that the Supreme Court ruling brought an end to the presidential poll litigation, should now congratulate President Tinubu and pledge his support in the spirit of statesmanship.
