SUN, JULY 23 2023-theGBJournal |The Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar was the centre of a vicious attack yesterday by the Presidency following his recent statement on the last election, and in which he accused the current administration of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) of plotting to undermine the judiciary.
The Presidency, in a statement published by the Special Adviser to the President, Special Duties, Communications & Strategy, Dele Alake, hit back, describing Atiku’s statement as ”laughable and jejune” while suggesting that he (Atiku) is attempting to discredit the Judicairy, ”an important institution of State for selfish political end is disingenuous, shameful and unbecoming of a former Vice President of Nigeria.”
According to the Presidency, ”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 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.”
They also argued that ”President Tinubu won a free, fair and credible election. The February 25th, 2023 Presidential election that produced him is the most transparent election ever conducted in Nigeria since 1999.”
The Presidency said in the lenghty statement that it is obvious that Atiku has not fully recovered from the shock of defeat, ”hence the current attempt to mischievously rake up another round of inanities that offend basic logic and rational thinking.”
”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. 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 party to a case before the Presidential Election Tribunal.”
The Presidency went further, ”Atiku Abubakar should be honourable enough as a statesman to allow the Judiciary perform its sacred duty without harassment and this resort to self-help.”
The Presidency’s response and Atiku’s statement reflects the pressure on the Judiciary as it prepares to rule on the cases brought by the PDP and the Nigeria Labour Party (LP) against the emergence of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as Nigeria’s President following a nationwide vote on February 25, 2023.
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