*Says INEC, Supreme Court Support Illegality, Forgery
The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 25, 2023 presidential election, Atiku Abubakar has reacted to the judgment of the Supreme Court.
In his reaction during a press conference on Monday, the former Vice President said that he will not leave the political arena despite the court verdict.
Atiku insisted that President Bola Tinubu was not qualified to contest the February 2023 presidential poll.
“As for me and my party, this phase of work is done. However, I am not going to go away, if you think I am going to go away, forget about it,” the former Vice President said at a press briefing on Monday in the nation’s capital, Abuja.
“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 economical restructuring that the country needs,” he added.
He accused the Supreme Court and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of supporting illegality, identity theft, impersonation, forgery of certificates and perjury.
Atiku said when people lose confidence in the electoral process, democracy is on life support.
He said though the apex court’s judgment was final, it leaves much to be desired.
Atiku and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart, Peter Obi, had challenged the victory of Tinubu in the last election up to the apex court.
Not satisfied with the verdict of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) earlier in September, Atiku and Obi approached the Supreme Court seeking the nullification of Tinubu’s election on the grounds of double nomination, alleged certificate forgery, non-transmission of results electronically, 25% votes in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), amongst others.
However, last Thursday, the Justice John Okoro-led panel of the apex court threw out all the appeals by Atiku and Obi for lacking merit. The panel thereafter upheld the electoral victory of Tinubu.
