Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election, said on Monday the judgement of the Supreme Court on the election dispute has damaged the confidence Nigerians have in the judiciary.
Obi said this during a press conference in Abuja on Monday.
The apex court had last month dismissed the appeals of Obi and that of Atiku Abubakar, his People’s Democratic Party counterpart challenging President Bola Tinubu’s victory.
The former Anambra governor rejected the judgement by the Supreme Court, saying it fell short of the expectations of the people and needed justice.
He said the Supreme Court abandoned its responsibility as a court of law and policy, adding that the court’s decision contradicts “the overwhelming evidence of election rigging, false claim of a technical glitch, substantial non-compliance with rules set by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).”
He said: “Without equivocation, this judgement amounts to a total breach of the confidence the Nigerian people have in our judiciary. To that extent, it is a show of unreasonable force against the very Nigerian people from whom the power of the Constitution derives.
“This Supreme Court ruling may represent the state of the law in 2023 but not the present demand for substantive justice. The judgement mixed principles and precepts. Indeed, the rationale and premise of the Supreme Court judgement have become clearer in the light of the deep revealing and troubling valedictory remarks by Justice Musa Dattijo Muhammad, (JSC) on Friday 27th October 2023.”
Obi said that “in disagreeing very strongly with the ruling of both the Presidential Petitions Court (PEPC) and the Supreme Court on the outcome of the 25th February 2023 Presidential election as declared by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as democrats who believe in the rule of law, we recognise that the Supreme Court is the end stage of the quest for legal closure to the matter.
“As a party and as candidates, Datti and I have now exhausted all legal and constitutional remedies available to us.”
He described the judgement as another beginning in “our quest for the vindication of the hope of the common man for a better country. After all, sovereignty belongs to the people. If only for historical purposes, it behooves us to place our disagreement with and deep reservations about this judgment on public record.
“We have long been aware of how weak national institutions have negatively affected our democracy. This year 2023 has been quite remarkable and revealing. INEC has displayed incompetence in the conduct of its statutory duty.
“The judiciary has largely acted in defiance of constitutional tenets, precedents, and established ground rules. Political expediency has preceded judicial responsibility. A mechanical application of technicalities has superseded the pursuit of justice and fairness. Both INEC and the Supreme Court as the referees, respectively shifted the goalposts in the middle of the game.
” Where the value and import of the recent Supreme Court ruling ends is where our commitment to a New Nigeria begins.”
Obi, however, promised that he will not abandon the manifesto the LP presented to Nigerians in the 2023 polls, saying they would expand the confines of their message to the rest of the country.
He said: “We shall now expand the confines of our message of hope to the rest of the country. We shall meet the people in the places where they feel pain and answer their needs for hope. At marketplaces, motor parks, town halls, board rooms, and university and college campuses, we all carry and deliver the message of a new Nigeria. As stakeholders and elected Labour Party officials, we shall remain loyal to our manifesto.
“We will continue to canvas for good governance and focus on issues that promote national interest, unity, and cohesion. We will continue to give primacy to our Constitution, the rule of law, and the protection of ordered liberties.”
Read also: Full speech of Peter Obi’s press conference on Supreme Court verdict
Obi said his dream for a new Nigeria has not ended with the verdict of the Supreme Court.
Although the 62-year-old businessman, who addressed the media alongside his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, did not explicitly disclose whether he would run for president again in 2027, he said the end has not come for his journey for a new Nigeria.
Obi further appreciated the energy and dedication of Nigerian youths and the Obidient movement during the campaign for the 2023 polls.
Addressing his supporters popularly known as ‘Obidients’, he said a destination is not an event but a journey.
“I want to assure them that this is not the end of our journey but in fact the beginning. Nigerians heard you, the world has taken note and we will not forget easily. We shall endure; persist until we reach our destination because new Nigeria is our destination. A destination is not an event.”
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