Williams Amofokhai
Atiku Abubakar, the PDP’s presidential candidate says Nigeria is doomed following the Supreme Court’s judgment which upheld the victory of President Bola Tinubu in the February 25 presidential election.
Atiku was reacting to the apex court’s judgment for the first time, which had last Thursday nullified his petitions against Tinubu.
The former vice president, at a news conference in Abuja on Monday faulted the Supreme Court’s judgment.
According to Atiku, “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.”
He said the consequences of those decisions for the country would not end at the expiration of the current government, but would last for decades.
“I am absolutely sure that history will vindicate me. We now know what the Supreme Court has decided. At critical points in my political life, I always ignored the easy but ignoble path and chosen the difficult but dignified path, the path of truth, of morality, of democracy and rule of law,” he stated.
Atiku said as Vice President in the civilian government that succeeded the military, he again at great personal cost, chose to oppose the extension of the tenure of the government beyond the two four-year terms enshrined in the constitution.
“In response to the official backlash against me, I instituted several cases in the courts, which led to seven landmark decisions that helped to deepen our democracy and rule of law. 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. I give this background to underscore that what we are currently dealing with is bigger than one or two presidential elections and is certainly bigger than Atiku Abubakar. 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 in the eyes of the world. We showed incontrovertible evidence that Bola A. Tinubu was not qualified to contest the Presidential Election because he forged the qualifying academic certificate, which he submitted to INEC. In fact, a simple check of Tinubu’s past records in its possession would have shown INEC that Tinubu broke the law and should not have been allowed to contest the election.
We showed irrefutable evidence of gross irregularities, violence, and manipulations during the elections. We showed incontrovertible evidence that INEC violated the Electoral Act and deliberately sabotaged its own publicly announced processes and procedures in order to illegally declare Tinubu elected. The position of the Supreme Court, even though final, leaves so much unanswered,” he explained.
Atiku said as a stakeholder in the presidential election of February 25, he along with other well-meaning Nigerians had done their bit in ensuring that the nation’s democratic process enjoyed 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,” he said.
