*Apex court has failed Nigerians – Opposition Party
By OUR REPORTER
“Nigerians earnestly expected the Supreme Court to uphold and defend the clear provisions of the 1999 Constitution in terms of qualification and minimum requirement for a winner to be declared in a Presidential election in Nigeria especially with regards to the required statutory 25% of votes in the FCT…”
Nigeria’s leading opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on Thursday, described judgment of the Supreme Court in the petition filed by the PDP and its Presidential Candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, against declaration of Bola Tinubu as President, as “disappointing”.
Atiku and the PDP as well as Peter Obi and the Labour Party (LP) had filed a case against the declaration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s Bola Tinubu as winner of the February 25, 2023 presidential election.
Mr. Debo Ologunagba, PDP National Publicity Secretary, in a statement while reacting to the judgment of the apex Court, said the party and indeed, “majority of Nigerians are alarmed, disappointed and gravely concerned with the reasoning of the Supreme Court which the PDP believes is against the express provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), the Electoral Act, 2022, the Guideline and Regulation issued by INEC under which the election was conducted.”
The PDP asserted that it is indeed a sad commentary for our democracy that the Supreme Court failed to uphold the provisions of the law. Instead, it trashed the expectation of majority of Nigerians who looked up to it as a Temple of Impartiality to deliver substantial justice in the matter having regards to the laws and facts of the case.
The party said, “Nigerians earnestly expected the Supreme Court to uphold and defend the clear provisions of the 1999 Constitution in terms of qualification and minimum requirement for a winner to be declared in a Presidential election in Nigeria especially with regards to the required statutory 25% of votes in the FCT as well as issues of violation of electoral Rules and Guidelines, brazen manipulations and alterations of election results by the APC.”
The party also said, “Nigerians are still at a loss as to how the Supreme Court condoned the serious issues of forgery, falsehood and perjury on the altar of technicalities”.
According to the party, “the general gloom, melancholy and sense of despondency across the country upon the delivery of the judgment is an ominous sign of eerie situation which portend grave consequences because of the disappointment embedded in the judgment.”
The statement also noted that the Supreme Court Judgment has evidently shaken the confidence of Nigerians in the judiciary, especially the Supreme Court as the last hope of the common man.
“The PDP remains undeterred and charges Nigerians not to be discouraged or allow the judgment to detract from their collective quest for the entrenchment of a credible electoral system that can guarantee a government that truly derive its legitimacy from the people.”
