Presidential poll: Obi, Atiku chasing after a mirage in tribunal – APC campaign council

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

The Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) of All Progressive Congress (APC) has said the standard bearers of Labour Party and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are chasing a mirage over their threat to go to Court to challenge the victory of the ruling party’s candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Addressing journàlists yesterday in Abuja, the Special Adviser on Media and Communication of the APC PCC Dele Alake, however commended the decision of the two major opposition parties to follow the rule of law rather than taking the law into their own hands, but said nothing will come out of the tribunal to upturn the election.
“We must thank the two of them for finally opting for the rule of law as against the initial belligerent posture as they continue their baseless journey of chasing after a mirage. Those who lay claim to democratic credentials are expected to be conscious of those inimitable minimum requirements of law and order even in the face of a perceived injustice.
“The initial knee-jerk and hothead call for anarchy by their proxies was ill-advised and would in no way serve any noble cause. It is good to know that reason has prevailed.
“Let us say, unequivocally, that we welcome the decision of both the PDP and LP and also the NNPP candidates to test their claims, as ridiculous as they are, in the court of law as provided for by our constitution. This is without prejudice to the conciliatory efforts of the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He has reiterated in his post declaration speeches the need for all Nigerians, irrespective of whom we all voted for, to rally quickly together for the good of our country.
“We must say, however, that listening to both Atiku and Obi yesterday left us in the APC family confused. We understand that there has been an orchestrated campaign by the acolytes of PDP and LP in the media to discredit the Presidential election. What we did not expect is that the two presidential candidates and, indeed, their political parties, would shamefully re-echo the puerile and unimaginative arguments that are being canvassed by political illiterates and mischief-makers who are crying wolf on social media.
“As we all can see, these two otherwise experienced politicians are pinpointing lack of adherence to the guidelines as a basis for discrediting the votes lawfully cast by Nigerians. We shall examine the so-called process that was purportedly breached by the electoral body and how it, in their wild imagination, undermined the credibility of the election.
“The claim that INEC did not use the BVAS is false. Those who voted across Nigeria, including Atiku and Obi, were accredited by BVAS. Save for the bad losers that these two people have proven to be, we should rather be celebrating the tremendous improvement the use of BVAS has brought to our electoral process.
“The complaint over the electronic transmission of the result is not supported by law.
“Section 38 of the Electoral Acct 2022 referred to by the PDP and LP has nothing to do with transmission of election results. Section 60, subsection 2 of the Act deals with transmission of results and it is at the discretion of INEC. The Act does not contain any mandatory provision regarding the transmission of results”, he said.