Presidency reacts to Friday’s Supreme Court decision on Atiku, PDP’s appeals against Buhari’s victory

*Describes it as affirmation of popular will of Nigerians

The Nigeria’s Presidency has spoken about Friday’s explanation given by the Supreme Court of Nigeria, in which it cleared the doubts of the opposition about its earlier verdict upholding the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari in February 28, 2019 presidential election in the country.

The nation’s apex seat of government, according to a statement sent to The DEFENDER by Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, welcomed what it described as the elucidation of the Supreme Court ruling on the PDP petition.

The Supreme Court, in its Friday explanation, said Atiku Abubakar, who is Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the election, and his party had their petition thrown out because they failed prove that the conduct of the election and its results transmission by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were server-based.

The Presidency, in applauding the explanation of the apex court, picked the core of the decision.

“It reiterates that the onus of proof must necessarily fall on those that challenge the vote.

“Allegations must be substantiated if they are to hold, and this requires producing credible witnesses that verify key claims. As the Supreme Court has stated, the case failed this test.

“On the issue of qualifications, President Buhari has a long history of service to the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“The questioning of this fact seems to fly in the face of all evidence,” the seat of government said in the Garba Shehu’s statement.

The Presidency however challenged the PDP telling it that now is the time for it to take up the service mandated by the election, adding that the opposition party had got more that enough responsibility to do in putting the government of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) on its toes than go about with frivolous cases.

“The legislative agenda of the ninth assembly is ambitious in both size and scope. It is critical the opposition is there to scrutinise bills and policies, rather than preoccupy themselves with unsustainable court cases.

“We appreciate the PDP and their candidate for taking these claims to courts rather than expressing them in other ways, but now Nigeria needs a robust and rigorous opposition. The nation needs to move on.

“While it is correct to give credit to the courts for affirming this electoral victory-and we commend the courage of the bench to arrive at the right conclusion given manifest and subtle pressures to do otherwise-the reality is that courts were convinced by arguments from the lawyers representing the APC and its candidate, President Muhammadu Buhari that results reflected the true wishes of a majority of our citizens.

“resident Buhari won four million more votes than his closest rival, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in the February poll.

“No serious electoral observers have challenged this result. And now the Supreme Court has explained why the PDP appeal is unsubstantiated. We hope this finally puts the matter behind us.

“We should now grasp this moment to move forward – together,” it said.