2023 presidential poll: Judiciary on trial, says Atiku

• Offers reasons for pursuing case quietly

Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 25, 2023 presidential poll, Atiku Abubakar, has said allegations of massive irregularities trailing the exercise have put the judiciary on trial.

He noted that apprehensions and misgivings expressed in parts of the country on what is required of the judiciary in addressing the concerns showed unique nature of the issues.

The former Vice President, who spoke through Director, Research, Strategy and Documentation of 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.

He said it has become imperative that “we put the Nigerian judiciary on notice; that justices of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, who are primary and final arbiters in this election imbroglio, are made to know that the onus lies on them to look at both the spirit and letters of the law and the very marginalised feelings of every Nigerian, and do what is right and correct in the public domain, so as to save this country and sanctity of our commonwealth.”

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.”

Atiku continued: “It is time for us to come out and speak the truth as it is; to state clearly without fear or favour that Bola Tinubu is the beneficiary of a wrong 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 made it clear that Nigerians must ask our umpire, INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission), 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, 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.”

The Wazirin Adamawa lamented that all the parties that were involved in the election had been “whipped openly and brazenly by a siren dictatorship of the ballot box, led by the APC (All Progressives Congress), that has become a wait on all Nigerians.”

He added: “It is time to break this shackles, chains and since they did not allow us do it via the 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.”