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Says judgement bereft of substantial Justice
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It has brought despair to faces of citizenry, Damagum
By Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja
Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the last general election and former Vice President, heads heads Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has headed to the Supreme Court after rejecting Wednesday’s judgement of the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC.
The PEPC, in its judgement , had affirmed the All Progressives Congress, APC, and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the winner of the last presidential election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
Atiku, a former Vice President of Nigeria, while addressing a press conference on Thursday at the PDP headquarters, Abuja, explained that he
refused to accept the judgment of the PEPC because of his belief that it is bereft of substantial justice.
He added however that whatever the disappointment in the verdict of the court can never destroy his confidence in the judiciary.
He maintained that the electoral process in Nigeria should be devoid of untidy manipulations and that the outcome of every election should be a perfect reflection of the wishes of the electorate.
Atiku expressed the firm belief that such is the only way through which the nation’s democracy can have a manifest expression of its true meaning.
According to the former Vice President, “Gentlemen of the press, I take great pains to tell you that the decision of the court of first instance on this matter utterly falls far short of that expectation.
“I am therefore here to tell you that, though the judgment of the court yesterday is respected, it is a judgment that I refuse to accept.
“I refuse to accept the judgment because I believe that it is bereft of substantial justice.
“However, the disappointment in the verdict of the court can never destroy my confidence in the judiciary.
“Consequently, I have asked my lawyers to activate my constitutionally guaranteed rights of appeal to the higher court, which, in the instance, is the Supreme Court.
“It is my conviction that the electoral process in Nigeria should be devoid of untidy manipulations and that the outcome of every election should be a perfect reflection of the wishes of the electorate.
” I believe that such is the only way through which our democracy can have a manifest expression of its true meaning.
“Whether I prevail in this quest or not, the record of my effort in ensuring an order of credible elections in Nigeria shall remain for the future generations to evaluate”, he said.Continuing, Atiku said, “The journey of my political career, as you know, holds so much to the courage and fearless decisions of our judiciary.
“Indeed, I am no stranger to legal battles, and I can say that I have a fair idea of how the court system works.
“All through my career as a politician, I have been a fighter, and I must say that I have found the judiciary as a worthy pillar to rest on in the pursuit of justice.
“The last presidential election in our country and the way it was managed by the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission, leaves behind unenviable precedents, which I believe the courts have a duty to redress.
“Our gains in ensuring transparent elections through the deployment of technology was heavily compromised by INEC in the way it managed the last presidential election, and I am afraid that the judgement of the court as rendered by the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal yesterday, failed to restore confidence in our dreams of free and fair elections devoid of human manipulations.
“‘Like I did say at the beginning of this legal battle when I instructed my lawyers to file my petition challenging the outcome of the presidential election, my ultimate goal in this pursuit is to ensure that democracy is further strengthened through the principles and processes of fair hearing”, he said.
The former Vice President however urged all his supporters to remain steadfast.
Hos words, “I urge them to take solace in an immortal lesson I learned from my leader and mentor, the late Shehu Yar’Adua, that losing a battle is less important than losing the war.
“We might have lost a battle yesterday, but the war is well ahead of us.
“And I believe that with our hopes in God, we shall win the war of restoring confidence in our electoral system”, he said.
Speaking earlier at the press conference, the acting National Chairman of the PDP, Ambassador Umar Ilya Damagum said that the declaration of the court did not serve the interest of justice.
According to Damagum, “From the faces of Nigerians in all nooks and crannies, you will see hopelessness and despair since the pronouncement of the judgment yesterday.
“Lawyers, politician’s and other relevant stakeholders from all works of life were also more confused as law and facts were visibly thrown over board.
“However, as law abiding political parties, we received the judgment with shock along with other Nigerians, friends of Nigeria for what is at stake is beyond personal gains”, he said.
He went further to say that the party’s NWC is doing everything possible to keep the party so that they can give the incumbent government a credible opposition while it continues to pursue it’s mandate.
Among those in attendance at the press conference were; former Senate President and Chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT), Sen. Adolphus Wabara, Sen. Ben Obi, Sen Abdul Ningi, former govs. Olagunsoye Oyinlola (Osun) and Dr Achike Udenwa (Imo) as well as the party’s former National Chairman Prince Uche Secondus among others.
