Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Presidential candidate of the
Peoples Democratic Party in the 2019 elections has rejected the judgement of
the Supreme Court on his petition against President Muhammadu Buhari's victory
in the election.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday, October 30, 2019, dismissed the former vice President petition challenging Buhari's 2019 election victory.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday, October 30, 2019, dismissed the former vice President petition challenging Buhari's 2019 election victory.
Reacting to the court verdict, Atiku said the judiciary has
been sabotaged “like every estate of our realm”.
Following the judgement, the presidential candidate in a statement accused a “dictatorial cabal” of disrupting Nigeria’s democratic progress.
Following the judgement, the presidential candidate in a statement accused a “dictatorial cabal” of disrupting Nigeria’s democratic progress.
He said, “The
Nigerian judiciary, just like every estate of our realm, has been sabotaged and
undermined by an overreaching and dictatorial cabal, who has undone almost all
the democratic progress the Peoples Democratic Party and its administrations nurtured
for sixteen years, up until 2015.
“Can Nigeria continue like this? Recently, former United States
Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, averred that
Nigeria had rolled back the democratic gains she made in 2015. When democracy
is rolled back, the economy, the society and the judiciary will not be far
behind.
“Today, the nail has been put on the coffin and the gains we
collectively made since 1999 are evaporating, and a requiem is at hand.”
Atiku maintained that a
democracy should constitute a strong judiciary, a free press and an impartial
electoral umpire, adding that “Nigeria has none of those three
elements as at today.”
He said, “To
those who think they have broken my spirit, I am sorry to disappoint you.
“I am too focused on Nigeria to think about myself. I gave up that
luxury twenty years ago. The question is not if I am broken. The question is if
Nigeria is whole?
“This is not a time for too many words. It will suffice for me to
remind Nigeria of this — we are an independent nation and we are the architects of our fate. If
we do not build a free Nigeria, we may end up destroying her, and God forbid
that; that should be the case.”
He, therefore, vowed to keep on “fighting for Nigeria and for
democracy, and also for justice”.
