Atiku, Tinubu ‘fight dirty’ over alleged plot to undermine judiciary

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and President Bola Tinubu are locked in a war of words over an alleged plot to manipulate the ongoing electoral dispute at the Presidential Election Petition Court, Abuja.

Atiku, a former vice president, in a statement on Saturday in Abuja by his media office, alleged that there are threats from the All Progressives Congress (APC), Tinubu’s party, that aim to intimidate the judiciary from ensuring justice in the ongoing presidential electoral dispute.

But Tinubu and the APC have dismissed the allegations.

Atiku, who came second in the 25 February presidential election, is urging the Presidential Election Petition Court to overturn Mr Tinubu’s victory on account of alleged electoral fraud.

Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) and the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) in their separated suits, are also asking the five-member panel of the court headed by Haruna Tsammani, to nullify the president’s victory at the polls.

They are accusing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of manipulating the entire electoral process in favour of Mr Tinubu. The petitioners also argued during the court’s hearing that Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima were not eligible to vie for the presidency owing to allegations of criminal forfeiture and double nomination against the duo.

However, Messrs Tinubu, Shettima, the APC and INEC, in their defence before the court, contended that there was substantial compliance with the electoral laws in the conduct of the 25 February presidential election.

READ ALSO: Atiku to PEPC: Declare me winner because of 21 states’ results

They urged the court to dismiss the suits against Tinubu.

‘Sinister plot to undermine Nigeria’s judiciary, democracy’
But in a fresh reaction to the court’s proceedings, Atiku said there is a plot to compromise the judiciary’s independence.

In the statement signed by his media aide, Paul Ibe, the PDP candidate described the last general election as the “the worst in the annals of democratic politics in our country,” a position Tinubu has refuted.

Atiku who was Nigeria’s vice president from 1999 to 2007, said INEC’s “arbitrariness” in declaring Mr Tinubu as winner of the election despite not fulfilling the statutory requirements was why he is challenging the outcome.

“But as proceedings on the controversial February 25 election continue at the court, there have been threats from the ruling party that aim to intimidate the judiciary from serving the duty of justice,” the statement said.

He alleged that the APC and Tinubu’s “agents” “have ceaselessly chosen to stand in the way of justice by making catastrophic threats to anarchy if justice is not served according to their whims.”

Last Wednesday, there were social media reports that Tinubu allegedly had a secret telephone conversation with the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Olukayode Ariwoola, concerning the pending suits against the president.

The reports also alleged that Ariwoola had a clandestine phone conversation with the Director General of Nigeria’s spy agency, the State Security Service (SSS), Yusuf Bichi, with a view to asking the presidential election court to give its judgement in favour of Mr Tinubu.

However, the APC and the Supreme Court management denied the allegations, saying there was “no iota of truth” in the claims.

Atiku cautioned that “Nigeria’s democracy should not be undermined by using the judiciary to serve the interest of the ruling party.”

Referencing the social media reports about Messrs Tinubu and Ariwoola’s alleged phone call, Atiku said, “…reports in the media about some heinous plots to harass justices sitting on the petition are ominous to peace and the security of our nation.”

“To compromise the workings of our democracy and seeking to compromise the workings of our judiciary is an open call for anarchy.”

The former vice president expressed his desire to abide by the law “in resisting any attempt to undermine our fragile democracy.”

Drawing the attention of the international community to the allegations, Atiku recalled how a former CJN, Walter Onnoghen, was unlawfully removed from office in 2019 “when it was obvious that he would not bend to their will.”

In 2019, former President Muhammadu Buhari was re-elected but Atiku challenged the result of the election, which was later upheld by both the presidential election petition and Supreme Court.

Atiku further recalled how armed SSS operatives invaded official residences of judges in 2016 and 2017 “all in a bid to beat the judiciary into submission.”

He lamented that the ruling APC government had earned notoriety in arm-twisting the judiciary.

“The plot of the APC is simple: intimidate the judiciary, threaten judges with arrest so that they will bow to their will. This is a playbook from 2019 when they removed the CJN and then replaced him with Tanko Muhammad, who himself was later accused of corruption by his colleagues at the Supreme Court and resigned shamefully.”

Reacting to the allegations, Mr Tinubu’s spokesperson, Dele Alake, described Atiku’s statement as “laughable.”

Alake said Atiku had “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.”

He said the former vice president failed to provide any evidence to support his claims.

Alake said Atiku “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.”

Recalling Tinubu’s contributions to the entrenchment of democracy, Alake said the president “was leading the charge against the emasculation of the judiciary and promoting the sanctity of rule of law as the building block for good governance as Governor of Lagos State between 1999-2007, under a PDP central government, Alhaji Atiku was nowhere to be found.”

He added that “no leader with such a sterling and enviable credential as a champion of rule of law, independence of judiciary like President Tinubu will ever contemplate undermining the Judiciary as alleged by Alhaji Atiku.”

According to Alake, Tinubu won the February presidential election in a “free and fair” manner, saying it was the “most transparent election ever conducted in Nigeria since 1999.”

Similarly, the APC described Atiku’s statement as “arrant nonsense” and “lacking in substance.”

The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, said Tinubu won the election convincingly and it has full faith and confidence in the nation’s courts.

“Our attention has been drawn to a Press Statement by a media aide to Atiku Abubakar, Presidential Candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). The statement alleges that the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its government are engaged in a plot to intimidate members of the judiciary towards unduly influencing the outcome of pending cases before the court. Atiku Abubakar and his minions offered no evidence to support their wild, hollow, and mischievous allegations.

“Quite frankly, there is nothing in Atiku Abubakar’s statement that is worth a reaction from the APC. It is just arrant nonsense, totally lacking in substance and cogency. Its only imaginable purpose is a childish attempt to float an alibi to deflect the shame of a highly probable defeat in court, having miserably failed to make out a credible case to justify his bogus claim that he won the last Presidential Election.

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and our Party won the election convincingly. We have full faith and confidence in our courts to dispense electoral justice in accordance with our Constitution and all applicable laws,” Morka said.

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