Former Vice President and the PDP presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, Atiku Abubakar, has voiced his concerns over recent court rulings that have favoured candidates from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in states governed by opposition parties.
In a statement released on Monday, Atiku accused the APC of employing underhanded tactics to “snatch, grab and run away with power.” He pointed to a series of controversial rulings in Nassarawa, Kano, Zamfara, and Plateau states, where opposition victories have been overturned in favour of the APC.
“These are clearly ominous signs that threaten not just our faith in the electoral and judicial system but evincing that our democracy is compromised,” Atiku asserted. He further condemned the APC’s “inglorious ideology of ‘snatch, grab and run away with power,’” which he believes is undermining the very foundation of Nigeria’s democracy.
He cited the example of an APC lawmaker caught on video threatening to use his influence to manipulate the judicial process in favour of the party.
The former vice president also drew parallels between the current situation and the political landscape of Lagos State, where he alleged that opposition members have been subjected to intimidation and harassment under the leadership of APC godfather Bola Tinubu.
“In Lagos State where Tinubu holds sway as godfather, opposition became an anathema. Everyone including judges was forced to join his party. The few opposition members who managed to get elected were beaten to submission including at the Lagos State House of Assembly where the sole PDP member back in 2018 was suspended and arrested for gun running but mysteriously had the charges dropped immediately after he defected to the APC,” Atiku stated.
He further highlighted the recent decision by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) to withdraw a N135 billion lawsuit against an opposition senator from Anambra State less than 24 hours after he defected to the APC.
Atiku added, “Is it not mysterious that it was the same panel that sat and heard all the election petition cases from Plateau State before the Court of Appeal? How is it that in election cases where the PDP came first and the APC came second, the court ordered that the APC be declared winner while in elections where the PDP came first and Labour Party came second, the courts ordered a rerun in order to give the APC a chance of victory?”
“As Justice Dattijo Muhammad said in his valedictory speech which has also been buttressed by Olumide Akpata, the immediate past President of the Nigerian Bar Association, the judgments emanating from courts in recent times have been questionable and show obvious compromise.”
”As Mr. Femi Falana (SAN) put it recently, the judiciary under military dictatorship was much more courageous and had better integrity than what we have today.”
“It is obvious that the APC has turned the once respected Nigerian judiciary to a “cash and carry” one where politicians who don’t participate in primaries are named as candidates while actual winners of elections are sacked for flimsy reasons.”
