Abuja, Nigeria (CNN)Nigeria's third-placed presidential candidate, Peter Obi, strongly rejected the results and vowed to contest them in the courts, in his first public address since Saturday's election.
Obi said he rejected the victory of Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress party, who was declared the winner with close to 8.8 million votes -- about 36.6% of the total.
The 61-year-old candidate, who galvanized the youth vote, received about 6 million votes, according the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), just behind former vice president Atiku Abubakar of the People's Democratic Party.
Obi said he should have been declared the winner."We will explore all legal and peaceful options to reclaim our mandate. We won the election and we will prove it to Nigerians," Obi said in a televised press briefing from Abuja on Thursday, alleging the process was rigged.
"This election did not meet the minimum standard expected of a free, transparent, credible and fair election," he said. "It will go down as one of the most controversial elections ever conducted in Nigeria. The good and hardworking people of Nigeria have been robbed by our supposed leaders whom they trusted."
O
bi said he was hopeful of a favorable outcome to his promised legal challenge. "I know the courts will do the right thing. The future of their children is involved," he said.
bi said he was hopeful of a favorable outcome to his promised legal challenge. "I know the courts will do the right thing. The future of their children is involved," he said.
Dressed in his trademark black shirt and trousers, emblazoned with his Labour Party logo, Obi was in high spirits as he took questions at the media briefing held at an Abuja hotel.
As he left the venue, Obi was mobbed by a crowd of supporters with many chanting his name and others saying "My President."
Obi is not new to election legal battles: In 2007, he was reinstated as governor of southeastern Anambra state three months after he was impeached by the state