Our reporter/ The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar on Saturday accused President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of trying to compromise the judiciary.
Atiku’s allegation is coming on the heels of Friday’s claim by exiled Nigerian journalist, David Hundeyin as reported by Alabingo.com that president Bola Tinubu met with Imo State governor, Hope Uzodimma, the DSS DG, ICPC chairman, the NSA and acting EFCC chairman and ordered them to go after election petition judges likely not to rule in favour of the President.
In a statement signed by his media adviser, Paul Ibe on Saturday, Atiku said the APC and agents of Tinubu have “ceaselessly chosen to stand in the way of justice by making “catastrophic threats to anarchy if justice is not served according to their whims.”
“The plot of the APC is simple: intimidate the judiciary, threaten judges with arrest so that they will bow to their will. This is a playbook from 2019, when they removed the CJN and then replaced him with Tanko Muhammad, who himself was later accused of corruption by his colleagues at the Supreme Court and resigned shamefully,” the statement reads.
“However, the APC government never went after Tanko Muhammad as they did in Onnoghen’s case because it was never about corruption but the election. The APC has, over the years, built a reputation for judiciary intimidation.
“They accused about 10 judges of corruption, stormed their homes, and got them suspended and yet could not convict a single one of them. Justice Sylvester Ngwuta of the supreme court could not recover from the embarrassment that he ended up dying in office.
“Now, they have initiated a new plot. This time around, they want to intimidate the judges into delivering favourable judgments for them at the election tribunal. We draw the attention of the international community and, indeed, Nigerians to this fresh plot to steal the mandate of over 200 million people.”
Atiku and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) are challenging the declaration of Bola Tinubu, candidate of the APC, as the winner of the 2023 presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Part of the grounds for the challenge was Tinubu’s failure to secure at least 25% of votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
-Presidency, APC reacts…
The presidency in a reaction, said Atiku is yet to recover from the “shock of defeat he suffered” in the last presidential election.
According to Tinubu’s spokesman, Dele Alake, the former vice president was “making spurious and wild allegations aimed at disparaging and discrediting an important arm of government that should serve as the bulwark for our democracy”.
Alake said Abubakar did not put forward any convincing argument to support his claims on how the Tinubu-led administration and APC sought to “undercut, undermine and compromise the judiciary”.
“In the ill-thought-out and illogical statement, Alhaji Atiku accused the current administration of the governing APC of plotting to undermine the judiciary without providing any shred of evidence,” the statement reads.
“Apart from innuendos, insinuations and outright lies contained in the said press statement, the former Vice President Atiku didn’t put forward any convincing argument to support his claims on how the President Tinubu-led administration and APC sought to undercut, undermine and compromise the judiciary.
“If the former Vice President believes in democracy and the sanctity of the Judiciary, as claimed, he would not engage in making spurious and wild allegations aimed at disparaging and discrediting an important arm of government that should serve as the bulwark for our democracy.
“He shamelessly resorted to this cheap attempt to intimidate and blackmail the judiciary even when he is a party to a case before the presidential election tribunal.
“Let it be said that when it comes to matters of fighting for democracy and democratic ideals, the rule of law and independence of the Judiciary in Nigeria, President Bola Tinubu stands shoulder above Atiku Abubakar. When President Tinubu was leading the charge against the emasculation of the judiciary and promoting the sanctity of the rule of law as the building block for good governance as governor of Lagos state between 1999-2007, under a PDP central government, Alhaji Atiku was nowhere to be found.
“President Tinubu and the APC absolutely have no reason to undermine the judiciary in the hope of any favourable judgement.
“His lawyers and that of APC have presented a very solid defence of the result of the election and we are sure the judiciary will impartially deliver its ruling on the basis of points of law and evidence before it, not based on presumptuous speculations and unfounded accusations.
“Atiku Abubakar should be honourable enough as a statesman to allow the judiciary to perform its sacred duty without harassment and this resort to self-help. Attempting to discredit an important institution of state for selfish political ends is disingenuous, shameful and unbecoming of a former vice president of Nigeria. This desperation must stop.”
The APC on its part, described the allegation as “arrant nonsense”, noting that the PDP candidate was trying to “deflect the shame of a highly probable defeat” in the presidential electoral tribunal by making “mischievous allegations”.
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