Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 2023 presidential election, Atiku Abubakar, has declared that the allegations of massive irregularities that characterised the election has put the Judiciary on trial.
He believes that apprehensions and misgivings expressed in many parts of the country on what is required of the judiciary in addressing the allegations showed the unique nature of the matters before the judiciary at the moment with respect to the elections.
The former Vice President, who spoke through the Director Research, Strategy, and Documentation in the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, Don Pedro Obaseki, at a meeting with journalists in Abuja, disclosed that he deliberately decided to pursue his election case quietly to avoid violence and anarchy.
Atiku, however, said it has become imperative that we put the Nigerian judiciary on notice; that the Justices of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal who are the primary and final arbiters in this election imbroglio are made to know that the onus lie upon them to look at both the spirt and letters of the law and the very marginalized feelings of every Nigerian and do what is right and correct in the public domain so as to save this country and the sanctity of our common wealth.
According to him, “They must understand that the 2023 presidential election tribunal proceeding is not just the petitioner and the respondent that are on trial. It is the Nigerian judiciary that is on trial.”
Obaseki said that “it is time for us to come out and speak the truth as it is; to state clearly without fear or favour that Mr Bola Tinubu is the beneficiary of a rogue process. He is the beneficiary of a stolen mandate.”
“He is like the captain in chief of Ali Baba and the 40 thieves. It is time that we make it clear that Nigerians must ask our umpire, INEC to give us the results that Nigerians went to cast and not their skewed cancelled results which have become all over the place.
“This is key! To add to it, it is imperative for the Nigerian judiciary -all the justices of the Court of Appeal that will constitute the Presidential Election tribunal to know that the future of this country is hinged on them doing the right thing.
“The Supreme Court which this will go to therefrom must know that the tomorrow of Nigeria as a corporate entity, as a nation that is supposedly the leader of the black race, the future of that country cannot be declared as an Abiku- as a nation born dead. God will be able to reposition Nigeria again and drag us out of this doldrums.
Obaseki lamented that all the parties that were involved in this election have been whipped openly and brazenly by a siren dictatorship of the ballot box led by the APC, that has become a wait on all Nigerians.
“It is time to break this shackles, chains and since they did not allow us do it via thew ballot box, the judiciary must be held accountable so that they will do what is right with their oath of office, as officers of both the bar and the bench, to do what is right correct, both in the spirit and the letters of the law. That is my position. I think this is a position that is endorsed by Atiku Abubakar.”
On why Atiku has kept quiet after the election, Obaseki said: “Atiku is a man of peace. He asked me a question that shut me down. He wants peace.
He asked me, Pedro, you want me to start shouting now and you let these people come out with their guns and kill innocent Nigerians?
“That shut me down a little but it will not stop us from doing what is right because the freedom of a people is based on the blood of martyrs. People must stand between the gap. Since the court processes will soon commence, I am crying now on behalf Of Atiku Abubakar that this is the position.”
Credit: The Guardian.
