PDP Reacts To Presidential Election Tribunal Verdict

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has rejected the judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal describing it as provocative, barefaced subversion of justice and direct assault on the integrity of the nation’s justice system.

In its reaction to the verdict of the tribunal which quashed the petition filed by the PDP and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, the party said it was particularly shocking that the tribunal failed to point to justice.

The main opposition party said despite the flawless evidence laid before it, showing that President Muhammadu Buhari was not qualified to contest the February 23 presidential election, the tribunal went ahead to give victory to President Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Insisting that Buhari did not score majority of valid votes at the polls, the PDP said it’s bewildering that a court of law could validate a clear case of perjury and declaration of false information in a sworn affidavit, a case which the party said, was firmly established against the President, even in the face of incontrovertible evidence.

The PDP’s reaction conveyed in a statement by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party said it was rudely shocking that the court took over the roles of the Buhari’s and APC lawyers who clearly abandoned their pleadings by refusing to call evidence in defense of the petition.

“The court raked up all manner of excuses to make up for the yawning gaps occasioned by the total absence of any evidence from the respondents.

“Nigerians and the international community watched in utter disbelief when the tribunal ruled that one need not provide a copy or certified true copy of educational certificate such individual claimed to possess, contrary to established proof of claims of certification,” the PDP added.

The party said it was strange that the court even went ahead to provide rationalizations in favour of President Buhari, even when all hard facts before it showed that he did not possess the claimed educational certificate and that the Army was not in possession of his WAEC certificate as claimed in the affidavit he deposed to in his presidential nomination form.

The PDP further described as shocking that the court approved the “flawed” declaration of President Buhari as the winner of the election, despite evidence to show the perpetration of illegalities, manipulations, alterations, and subtraction of valid votes freely given to Atiku Abubakar by Nigerians.

“Indeed, the pervading melancholic atmosphere across our nation since the verdict is a direct indication that the judgment has not fulfilled the desires and expectations of Nigerians”, the PDP said.

The party, however, encouraged Nigerians to remain calm and not to lose hope or surrender to despondency or self-help, as its lawyers were upbeat in obtaining justice at the Supreme Court.

“This is more so as the tribunal itself admitted that there are several errors in the judgment,” it said.

NAN