Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 25, 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar, has said that the judgment of the Supreme Court which affirmed the election of Bola Tinubu as president, has serious implications on Nigerian democracy.
The former Vice President was reacting to the judgment of the apex court at a press conference on Monday in Abuja.
He alleged that, “judges are no longer appointed based on merit but are products of the interplay of politics and nepotism”, adding that the appointment of electoral officials has also been hijacked by the ruling party as seen in the latest nomination of Resident Electoral Commissioners.
Abubakar said, “When two critical institutions like the court and the electoral commission are trapped in an evil web of political machination, it becomes next to impossible for democracy to thrive.“
He said, as a stakeholder in the presidential election of February 25, he along with other well-meaning Nigerians had done their “bit in ensuring that the democratic process enjoys the privilege of full disclosure of the character deficiencies of the current political leadership”.
Abubakar said the judgments of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) and the Supreme Court, have far reaching implications.
He said: “Implications of PEPC and Supreme Court judgments
I leave Nigerians and the world to decide what to make of the Supreme Court’s unfortunate decision.
“But here’s my take. The judgments of the PEPC and the Supreme Court have very far-reaching grave implications, including the following:
“One is the erosion of trust in the electoral system and our democracy. Nigerians witnessed as the National Assembly changed the electoral law to improve transparency in the process.
“Of particular importance was the introduction of modern technology to help eliminate the recurring incidents of electoral manipulation, particularly during the collation of results.
“Nigerians and the world also witnessed as the leadership of the INEC, especially its Chairman and National Commissioner for Voter Education reassured Nigerians on national television multiple times that the use of that technology would be mandatory.
“Yet that same INEC undermined the use of that technology during the elections and collation process and declared as winner someone who clearly did not win the Presidential election. They then went further to take sides in the courts in a dogfight to defend their illegality.
“Who would convince the millions of Nigerians to vote in future elections after they suffered endlessly on queues to register to vote, to collect PVCs and to vote, based on INEC’s assurances only to see their votes stolen and given to someone they did not vote for?
“When people lose trust and confidence in elections, democracy is practically on life support. And by affirming and legitimizing the continued lack of transparency in our electoral system the courts are continuing to usurp the rights of voters to elect their leaders.”Speaking further, Abubakar said, “The other grave implication is that contestants in Nigeria’s elections should do whatever is necessary to be declared the winner.
“That includes identity theft, impersonation, forging of educational and other documents, perjury, and violence.
“And, as they do so, they should ignore whatever the law says and whatever assurances from the leadership of the electoral umpire about what the law says and what they would do in compliance.
“And they would do so knowing that our courts would approve of their behaviour or at best pretend not to take any notice of it.
“The third is that if you are robbed of victory, do not bother going to court for redress because your glaring evidence of the robbery will be ignored in favour of the mandate bandit.
“Also, your lawyers, however distinguished and accomplished, may be ridiculed by the judges who may also go out of their way to make even a stronger case for the so-called “winner” than even their own lawyers were able to do.
“These are clearly self-help strategies and actions bereft of the law and constitutionalism. “Only lawlessness and anarchy will result from such, with violence, destruction and implosion and loss of our country likely to follow.
I believe that we still have a small window to prevent these from happening.
“I still believe that we can rescue this country from the strange imposters that have seized it illegally and are holding it by the jugular.
“Let me caution that the leaders of those African countries that have completely collapsed into chaos never came together one day and agreed to collapse their countries.
“Rather their countries collapsed because of the incremental and compounding individual and collective utterances and actions of those leaders.
“Nigerians know more about the person sitting in office as their President and how he got there, and the dangers that it portends for them and the country.
“It is for them, especially the younger generation whose futures are to be shaped by that man, to decide what they want to do with the knowledge…”
