The victory of the All Progressives Congress, APC, candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was challenged in court by Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and Peter Obi of the Labour Party, LP. According to former federal lawmaker, Ben Murray Bruce, this should not have happened in the first place.
Reacting to Tinubu’s victory at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal on Wednesday, the former congressman from Bayelsa said that he was born in the region.
Bola Ahmed Tinubu was declared the winner of the 2023 presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), but Atiku and Peter Obi are contesting that decision.
In their legal fight to remove Tinubu as the President of Nigeria, they suffered a significant defeat on Wednesday.
Ben Murray-Bruce believed they should never have started their path to the Supreme Court, where the subject would be resolved.
The former president Goodluck Jonathan, who in 2015 picked up his phone and congratulated Muhammadu Buhari even before the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, revealed the final results, could have been emulated, in his opinion, to save the politicians the pain.
According to Bruce, once the electoral umpire has determined the winner of an election, there shouldn’t be a need to squander more time or money.
For the sake of democracy and the country, he wrote on X, “We must adhere to the Jonathan doctrine and accept the verdict of the people.”
Our elections don’t have to be decided by the courts, he insisted.
Additionally, the PDP chieftain counselled the politicians who were wronged to accept the Tribunal’s decision and put the interests of the country before their own.
“Bola Ahmed Tinubu, @officialABAT, is the duly elected and undisputed President of Nigeria, @NGRPresident,” he stated, adding that there should be no more questions or disagreements following the ruling.
