Supreme Court Failed Nigerians, Judgment Disappointing — PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party has described the Supreme Court judgment as disappointing.

The party said the Supreme Court has failed Nigerians in its judgement in the petition filed by it and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar against the declaration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Bola Ahmed Tinubu as winners of the February 25, 2023 presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

CityMirror News reports that the apex court upheld the judgment of the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal affirming the victory of the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and the Labour Party, Peter Obi, had filed petitions challenging the victory of President Tinubu as the winner of the presidential election announced by the INEC on March 1.

However, a five-man panel of the Tribunal led by Justice Haruna Tsammani in September agreed that the petitions accordingly lacked merit and affirmed the return of President Tinubu.

Dissatisfied with the Tribunal’s judgment, the LP Presidential Candidate and his counterpart in PDP filed 86 grounds of appeal at the Supreme Court to nullify the judgment.

The apex court on Thursday dismissed their petitions for lack of merit.

Reacting to the Supreme Court Judgement in a statement on Thursday, PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, said they are alarmed, disappointed, and gravely concerned with the reasoning of the apex court.

PDP declared, “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 the majority of Nigerians who looked up to it as a Temple of Impartiality to deliver substantial justice in the matter regarding the case’s laws and facts.

“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 per cent 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, Ologunagba added.

The opposition party publicity scribe said Nigerians are still at a loss as to how the Supreme Court condoned the serious issues of alleged forgery, falsehood, and perjury on the altar of technicalities.

He said, “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.”

Ologunagba said the apex court’s judgment has shaken Nigerians’ confidence in the judiciary, especially the Supreme Court, as the last hope of the common man.

PDP national publicity secretary, who said their party remains undeterred, charged Nigerians not to be discouraged or allow the judgment to detract them from their collective quest to entrench a credible electoral system that can guarantee a government that truly derives its legitimacy from the people.