Few days after the Supreme Court handed down its verdict on the disputed February 25, 2023 Presidential election, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), opened up on the judgement, saying Nigeria’s democracy is on a life-support.
To this end, he called for a comprehensive constitutional amendment that will prevent any court or tribunal to hide under technicalities or judicial sophistry to undermine the will of the people.
Atiku made the position known Monday at a world press conference held at the party secretariat in Abuja.
Last week, the apex court threw out the petitions of Atiku and Labour Party (LP)’s presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi, and upheld President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s election.
The Justice Inyang Okoro-led 7-man panel held that: “This appeal is lacking in merit and is hereby dismissed.”
Atiku opens up
Speaking at the press conference, the PDP standard bearer said what the country was currently dealing with is bigger than one or two presidential elections and is certainly bigger than him as well.
On the final outcome of the legal journey, the ex-VP said: “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.
“It is not about me; it is about our country, Nigeria. It is 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. It is about the reputation of Nigeria and Nigerians.
“Someone asked me what I would do if I lost my election petition appeal at the Supreme Court. In response, I said that as long as Nigeria wins, the struggle would have been worth the while. By that, I meant that the bigger loss would not be mine but Nigeria’s if the Supreme Court legitimizes illegality, including forgery, identity theft, and perjury.
At the current historic moment, the easier option for me would have been to fold up and retreat after the mandate banditry perpetrated by the APC and INEC.
“But I went to the Nigerian courts to seek redress. I even went to an American court to help with unravelling what our state institutions charged with such responsibilities were unwilling or unable to do, including unravelling the qualifying academic records of the person sworn in as our President and by implication, hopefully who he really is.
“I offered that evidence procured with the assistance of the American Court to our Supreme Court to help it to do justice in this case. As a stakeholder in the presidential election of February 25, I, along with other well-meaning Nigerians have done my bit in ensuring that our democratic process enjoys the privilege of full disclosure of the character deficiencies of the current political leadership.
“I also believe that even if the Supreme Court believes otherwise, the purpose of technology in our electoral system is to enhance transparency and not merely as a viewing centre. We have to move with the world and not be stuck in time.
“For as long as I breathe, I will continue to struggle with other Nigerians to deepen our democracy. I will continue to work for the return of political and economic restructuring that the country needs.”
The former VP called on the National Assembly to amend the electoral law to improve transparency in the process.
‘Take a bow ex-VP’
But in a response, the Presidency advised the former VP to take a bow and bid politics farewell.
Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga, made the position known in a statement Monday said “after over three decades of elusive bid for the Presidency of Nigeria, the former Vice President must now end his unprofitable bid and go away from any venture that would further pollute the political atmosphere and national harmony.”
He said: “At his press conference where he laboured, in vain, to once again manipulate public opinion and blame the judiciary for his self-inflicted defeat in the 25 February Presidential election, Alhaji Atiku launched a diatribe against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and judiciary, particularly our apex court, for not bending the law and the constitution to satisfy his whims and caprices.
“Atiku tried very hard to perfect his act of misinformation by seeking to lay claim to faux morality and higher ideals when in actual fact his entire life is antithetical to any higher ideals.
“For instance, Atiku claimed he worked along with others to end military rule in Nigeria when he was known to be in bed with the same junta who held democracy hostage and incarcerated his mentor, Major-General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua (rtd), till death. He distanced himself from him while in detention to keep alive his governorship ambition on the platform of one of those inglorious Abacha political parties.
“Atiku’s brand of politics is such that once an electoral process or election does not go his way or pave the way for his victory; democracy becomes dysfunctional and must therefore be imperiled. For him, democracy should either go his way or the highway.
“The PDP candidate was uncharitable and pugnacious in his choice of words and his view about Nigeria. We can only imagine the level of frustration that could make a former Vice President of Nigeria to hold such pessimistic view of a country where he once occupied the second highest position. The PDP candidate said Nigeria is doomed just because he failed to achieve his personal ambition.
“We want to tell Alhaji Atiku this: Nigeria is not doomed. It is only Atiku’s inordinate ambition to be President that is doomed. Nigeria is moving forward and set to achieve its manifest destiny as one of the most respected and successful nations of the world under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“Contrary to Atiku’s gloomy submission on our democracy, we are excited to tell the world that our democracy is thriving and blossoming. “It is the reason, for the first time, since 1999 the character of our National Assembly and its outlook reflect the diversity and plurality of the choices and preferences of voters as a rainbow coalition of different parties as opposed to the practice in the past where just two parties dominated the national parliament.
“In today’s Nigeria, votes count. No amount of deliberate distortions of facts about our recent election by Alhaji Atiku and his partner, Peter Obi can vitiate the continuous improvement of our electoral process which local and international observers have hailed.
As declared by the Supreme Court, IReV was not designed as an online collation centre. It was simply a public viewing centre for results.
“PDP and Atiku, including Peter Obi’s faction of Labour Party cannot continue to insist on their own reality against commonsense, logic and the law.
“Atiku and his army of hirelings knew why they lost the election. The PDP candidate lost because Nigerians preferred Bola Ahmed Tinubu and voted for him to be president. Tinubu, along with his APC, won because he offered a better vision for our country’s future.
The All Progressives Congress as a united and formidable party which ran a well-coordinated campaign with his rank and file intact.
“Atiku lost because he went into a major election with a fragmented and tattered umbrella that could not hold together. There was no way Atiku and PDP could have won the election with the party platform under which he contested broken into four parts. If Atiku was not harbouring a delusion of grandeur, we wonder how he could have envisaged any possible pathway to victory with Mr. Peter Obi’s Labour Party, Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso’s NNPP and PDP G-5 Governors who took away possible PDP votes, while the APC went into the election as a strong, viable and unified entity.
“Alhaji Atiku Abubakar claims he loves Nigeria and embraces “integrity” so much. We found such claim to be sheer hypocrisy as Atiku remains one of the worst examples of kleptocracy in Africa. The US Congress lists Atiku’s money laundering as one of the very rare cases of corruption at the highest level of governance in the world.
“His avarice sent Congressman William Jefferson to jail after the FBI busted a bribery scandal in which Atiku was involved from head to toe and for which he was marked down by the U.S. agency.
“Now as we get to the proper business of governance after Atiku’s unwarranted distraction, we have picked some clear lessons going forward. One is that our institutions must be strengthened on diligent and sturdy wings, enough to withstand and identify from afar rabble-rousers who masquerade as statesmen.
“Second, our institutions must also ensure that corrupt, desperate, self-serving serial losers should not have a space in our democracy. Because, if they don’t win the battle, they might burn the nation,
“We want to advise Atiku that after over three decades of elusive bid for the Presidency of Nigeria, he must now end his unprofitable bid and go away from any venture that will further pollute the political atmosphere and national harmony.”
