Just In : Jubilation As Atiku Takes Decision On His Political Future After Supreme Court Judgement (DETAILS)
Despite the Supreme Court’s verdict on October 26, 2023, which confirmed President Bola Tinubu’s electoral victory, Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the February 25, 2023 presidential election, asserts that he remains committed to the political arena and will not be exiting it.
“As for me and my party, this phase of work is done. However, I am not going to go away, if you think I am going to go away, forget about it,” the former Vice President said at a press briefing on Monday in the nation’s capital, Abuja.
“For as long as I breathe, I will continue to struggle with other Nigerians to deepen our democracy. I will continue to work for the return of political and economical restructuring that the country needs,” he added.
Atiku, who served as Vice President from 1999 to 2007, has pursued the presidency in Nigeria for nearly three decades. Despite facing repeated setbacks, the stalwart of the PDP affirms that he will remain in the political arena
He maintains that Bola Tinubu, the former APC candidate, was not qualified to run in the February 2023 presidential election. Atiku accuses both the Supreme Court and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of endorsing illegality, identity theft, impersonation, certificate forgery, and perjury.
Atiku contends that when people lose faith in the electoral process, democracy is in a precarious state. While he acknowledges the finality of the apex court’s judgment, he expresses dissatisfaction with certain aspects of it.
Atiku, along with his Labour Party (LP) counterpart, Peter Obi, had contested Tinubu’s victory in the last election up to the highest court. Not content with the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal’s (PEPT) verdict in September, Atiku and Obi took their case to the Supreme Court, seeking to nullify Tinubu’s election on grounds including double nomination, alleged certificate forgery, failure to electronically transmit results, and not securing 25% of the votes in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), among other allegations.
However, last Thursday, the panel led by Justice John Okoro at the apex court dismissed all appeals by Atiku and Obi, deeming them lacking in merit. Subsequently, the panel upheld Tinubu’s electoral victory.
