A former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Timi Frank, says Wednesday’s judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) was a judicial coup against Nigerians and not justice.
TheHintsNews reports that the tribunal had in its judgment struck out the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, in the 2023 elections, Atiku Abubakar, as well as the Labour Party and its candidate, Peter Obi.
The tribunal consequently affirmed the election of President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as winner of the February 25, 2023 presidential election.
However, Frank, while reacting to a statement by Vice President Kashim Shettima where he boasted that he would “retire Atiku and teach him how to rear goats and boilers”, said that no man can retire Atiku from politics in the country, except God.
He said in spite of Shettima’s unstatesmanlike comment, some of them know that Atiku and Peter Obi remain the heroes of democracy in Nigeria and Nigerians will never forget their struggle for a free, fair and transparent democratic system in the country irrespective of whether they get justice in the instant election petition case or not.
Frank said: “Shettima should know that one with God, as they say, is a majority.
“Atiku has the majority and this is why Nigerians did not jubilate nor celebrate the pyrrhic affirmation through judicial coup orchestrated by the PEPC affirming Tinubu as the winner of the Presidential election.
“What happened in Nigeria on Wednesday was a judicial coup against the Nigerian state. It wasn’t justice. It was an ambush against the people.
“Shettima and his gang may celebrate a stolen mandate against the will and wishes of majority of Nigerians now, but a time will come when they will feel the impact of what transpired when the judiciary brazenly decided to jettison substance, facts and evidence adduced before them and ruled against Nigerians for their personal gain.”
Frank called on Shettima to apologise to Atiku and Nigerians over his unguarded statement which was apparently borne out of crash impunity and arrogance.
He said: “A man like Shettima who has been accused times without number of sponsorship of Boko Haram ought to be in jail right now rather than walking free without any modicum of respect for elders and with a stolen mandate.
“He ought to be begging God for forgiveness seeing the many atrocities Boko Haram has committed in the North and the attendant deaths, ruination of lives and devastation of property.”
Frank called on the Judiciary to use Atiku’s and Obi’s decision to approach the Supreme Court to redeem its image.
He alsaoa commended Atiku for his resilience and doggedness in the pursuit of justice and in upholding the rule of law.
He said despite Atiku’s disagreement with the ruling of the Appeal Court’s Justices, the former Vice President demonstrated his abiding faith in the Nigerian judiciary by opting to subject the verdict to further scrutiny by the Supreme Court.