Nigeria destined for destruction if supreme court implies crime should be rewarded

Our reporter/ Nigeria is in trouble if the Supreme Court implies that crime should be rewarded, the presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last election, Atiku Abubakar said on Monday.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) winner of the February 25 election, but Atiku rejected the result and headed for the court.

The Presidential Elections Petition Tribunal had dismissed his suit and upheld Tinubu’s victory.

Dissatisfied, Atiku headed for the Supreme Court and subsequently sought to include additional “forgery evidence” which he obtained from the Chicago State University, but the court last week objected to this on the grounds that plea was made outside the 180-day mandatory period stipulated by the law.

However, speaking at a World Press Conference in Abuja, Atiku said Nigeria and not himself was the bigger loser of the Apex Court judgement.

“If the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, implies by its judgment that crime is good and should be rewarded, then Nigeria has lost and the country is doomed irrespective of who occupies the Presidential seat.

“If the Supreme Court decides that the Electoral umpire, INEC, can tell the public one thing and then do something else in order to reach a corruptly predetermined outcome, then there is really no hope for the country’s democracy and electoral politics.

“Obviously, the consequences of those decisions for the country will not end at the expiration of the current government. They will last for decades. I am absolutely sure that history will vindicate me. We now know what the Supreme Court has decided,” he said.

“It’s about our reputation and the future, it’s about the kind of society we want to leave for the next generation and what kind of example we want to set for our children and their children.

“Incontrovertible evidence showed that Tinubu was not qualified to contest in the last presidential election because he forged the qualifying certificate which he submitted to INEC.

“A simple check on Tinubu’s past records would have shown INEC that Tinubu broke the law and should not have been allowed to contest the election in the first place.”