The opposition Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) has rejected the judgment of the Presidential Election Tribunal which upheld President Buhari’s election, saying that “it has law turned upside down and an insult and provocation to Nigerians.”
This was contained in a statement available to newsmen in Abuja on Wednesday by the Spokesman of the Coalition, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere.
According to the Coalition, “from the totality of the judgment, the Court of Appeal PEPT panel has lost the rare opportunity presented to it by the petition of the consensus opposition candidate, Atiku Abubakar to put an end to electoral fraud, leadership incompetence and the imposition of an unfit leader on the people.
“By their judgment today, majority of Nigerians who had believed, though erroneously, that the judiciary was indeed independent have been brazenly awakened to the fact and correct belief that the Presidency had successfully hijacked the judiciary and Nigerians can only expect judgments and not justice.
“All credible observer groups both local and international were unanimous in their verdict that the election was below the standard of the 2015 and was massively rigged in favour of the President, the Court of Appeal wasted the opportunity and have by so doing endorsed the insecurity in the land, mismanagement of national resources, electoral fraud, forgery of documents and certificates submitted to INEC and indeed threatened the very foundations of our democracy.
“Could the Court, as it had done in times past, not this time also considered the state of the nation, the mood of Nigerians, national security issues and taken a decision boldly, impartially and firmly in the interest of Nigerians and Nigeria?
“Today’s judgment is a manipulation of the law and the brazen use of technicality to stamp injustice, rob the people of justice and deny the nation the chance to have a leader that they truly elected in the person of Atiku Abubakar. The nation weeps today, West Africa is crying and the international community is in shock.
“Our brothers who are being held hostages by poverty, bandits, killed daily etc. are now in coma as the Appeal Court have used today’s judgment to deny them a savior and foisted on them a leader who was not eligible for presidential office, a leader who does not have the capacity to govern, a leader who rode on the blood of our people to power using security agencies, a leader who employs divisive weapon and ethnicity in governance and a leader who claims to be fighting corruption but dinning and sleeping with men know to be corrupt. The nation is the loser today, not Atiku Abubakar or the opposition.
“Nigeria may need more than a decade to repair the damage being done by this government to the very fabrics of our nationhood.
ALSO READ: UPDATE: Buhari wins as Tribunal dismisses Atiku, PDP’s petition
“We, however, state that we anticipated the villa panel beaten judgment from the justices of the court presided over by the wife of a ruling party chieftain and Senator. The delay in appointing a replacement when the opposition to her presiding over the panel could not be withstood despite her desperate fight is very instructive of the mindset of the Court.
“The Court of Appeal is clearly in need of cleansing and Nigerians should join in the clamour for that cleansing particularly to immune the Court from political interferences.
“The midnight attack on the homes of some fearless judges, the obnoxious and arbitrary removal of the former Chief Justice of Nigeria and the imposition of a new CJN are pointers to the total hijack of the judiciary for the purpose of serving the executive today’s milk and honey.
“We duly raised alarm then. The Presidency did not heed and has also gone ahead to totally hijack the National Assembly which its Chairman, the Senate President has pledged their loyalty to the President and not the Constitution and the good people of Nigeria who are their employers
“We point out clearly that the approval for the live airing of the judgment by the Court was a phantom act to show transparency which the court clearly lacked. The act was just to hoodwink the people of Nigeria into believing that for granting the novel media right that it was to underscore the openness of the Court to the wishes of the people when such live airing have not been allowed in some high profile cases in the past.
“However, we saw through these antics and we were not taken in by that. Hence we insist that the PEPT played a dangerous mind game with the people of Nigeria capable of causing chaos.
“However, as lawful citizens and apostles of the rule of law, we wish to announce to Nigerians not to lose hope because our consensus candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is heading to the Supreme Court for a final appeal to reclaim the people’s mandate given to him.
“We cannot take the law into our hands hence, we shall approach the Supreme Court, diligently present our case and believe that the Justices of the Supreme Court will find solace in the fact that their names will be etched in gold and in the sands of time when they do right and do justice by bringing the Buhari reign of impunity, incompetence and stolen mandate to an end.”
and then