The administration has responded to the worry expressed by former vice president Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) regarding the potential attempt by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to weaken the opposition by manipulating elections and going to court, claiming that Abubakar is only sounding the alarm.
The PDP and its presidential candidate for 2023, according to the Presidency, are accused of abandoning caution and attacking the integrity of the judiciary while making false and defamatory accusations against President Bola Tinubu. This accusation was made in a statement released on Monday by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information & Strategy.
The PDP spokesman and Atiku, according to the statement, have grown blatantly desperate to pin their problems on President Tinubu and the legal system.
The argument put forth was as follows: “By placing blame on others, Atiku and his party have not shown that they had any introspection prior to making public their grave, fabricated, careless, and irresponsible accusations.
“We urge Nigerians to disregard the false accusations made by the PDP and its candidate, which claim that President Tinubu, as governor of Lagos, suppressed the opposition and corrupted the judiciary and is preparing to impose a one-party state on the nation by designating ‘loyalists’ as Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs).” We do not support the judiciary.
“To the core, President Tinubu is a Democrat. We boldly assert that in his capacity as president, he has not tampered with the judiciary’s decision-making. We had seen how, while he was in office, the PDP governor of Osun overcame the APC in the Supreme Court.
Likewise, the PDP governor of Bauchi defeated the APC in the Appeal Court after winning his appeal.
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As Atiku has repeatedly said and as his party and spokesperson have recently repeated, President Tinubu does not intend to create a one-party state.
“The purpose of these accusations is to intentionally inflame political tensions and sow discontent in our nation.
The PDP and the former vice president are the only ones who can imagine them.
“President Tinubu’s record as a model democrat and a fervent supporter of the rule of law is widely recognised, in contrast to Atiku Abubakar.
The domination of his political structure in Lagos was not caused by any undemocratic behaviour, as Atiku Abubakar would have the public believe, but rather by his record of service as governor, which saw enormous advancements in a number of state initiatives.
As a result, Tinubu emerged victorious from among the six governors of the now-defunct Alliance for Democracy. In contrast, Atiku Abubakar has admitted to the electoral fraud his party carried out in the South West in 2003.
“Atiku and the PDP are currently whining about the Appeal Court’s decisions on the Plateau, Zamfara, and Nasarawa State governorship elections. However, we would like to know where the former vice president was in 2019 when the court decided against the All Progressives Congress in Zamfara State. After that, the court gave PDP all the posts that the APC had won.
“Where was Atiku when the APC was barred by a court from fielding any candidates in the 2019 House of Assembly and Governorship elections in Rivers State?
When the Supreme Court awarded the APC’s victory to PDP candidate Governor Diri, who had earlier been rejected by the Bayelsa people, on the day of David Lyon’s inauguration as the state’s new governor, where were Atiku and the PDP in 2019?
The PDP and Atiku then praised the courts as defenders of democracy and relished all of these court-given awards as delicious triumphs for their party.
“The PDP is defaming the judiciary and President Tinubu now that the same courts are nullifying PDP triumphs due to the criminal party’s flagrant disregard for the law.
“We beg Atiku and the PDP to cease their campaign of slander and intimidation against the legal system, as well as the esteemed judges and justices. Both the law and the facts support judgements. Election petition cases are decided by the Electoral Act and the Constitution, not by personal opinions or feelings.
“After disobeying the letter and spirit of the law, it is reckless and a disservice to our nation for the opposition to now turn around and destroy a significant branch of our government.”
