The Peoples Democratic Party has said that it completely rejects the judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal on the petition of its pr
The Peoples Democratic Party has said that it completely rejects the judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal on the petition of its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, against the electoral victory of President Muhammadu Buhari, who was the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the February 2019 presidential election.
The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement said the judgement was provocative, barefaced subversion of justice and a direct assault on the integrity of the nation’s justice system. He said that PDP was particularly shocked that the tribunal allegedly failed to point to justice despite, what he called, the flawless evidence laid before it, showing that Buhari was not only unqualified to contest the election but also did not score the majority of valid votes at the polls.
Meanwhile the Coalition of the United Political Parties, CUPP said it received with angst the judgment of the Presidential Election Tribunal which upheld President Muhammadu Buhari’s election. The CUPP spokesperson, Imo Ugochinyere, said CUPP rejected the verdict totally since, according to him, CUPP viewed it as law turned upside down and an insult and a provocation to Nigerians.
He said, “From the totality of the judgment, the Court of Appeal PEPT panel has lost the rare opportunity presented to it by the petition of the consensus opposition candidate, Atiku Abubakar, to put an end to electoral fraud, leadership incompetence and the imposition of an unfit leader on the people. By their judgment today, majority of Nigerians who had believed, though erroneously, that the judiciary was indeed independent have been brazenly awakened to the fact and correct belief that the Presidency had successfully hijacked the judiciary and Nigerians can only expect judgments and not justice.
“All credible observer groups both local and international were unanimous in their verdict that the election was below the standard of the 2015 and was massively rigged in favour of the President, the Court of Appeal wasted the opportunity and have by so doing endorsed the insecurity in the land, mismanagement of national resources, electoral fraud, forgery of documents and certificates submitted to INEC and indeed threatened the very foundations of our democracy.
“The nation weeps today, West Africa is crying and the International community is in shock. Our brothers who are being held hostages by poverty, bandits, killed daily etc are now in coma as the Appeal Court have used today’s judgment to deny them a saviour and foisted on them a leader who was not eligible for presidential office, a leader who does not have the capacity to govern, a leader who rode on the blood of our people to power using security agencies, a leader who employs divisive weapon and ethnicity in governance and a leader who claims to be fighting corruption but dinning and sleeping with men known to be corrupt. The nation is the loser today, not Atiku Abubakar or the opposition.”
