A coalition of civil society organizations under the aegis
of Nigerian Youth Network for Good Governance and Sustainable Democracy NYNGGSD
has accused the Peoples Democratic Party PDP and the Labour Party LP of
employing underhand tactics to armtwist the Presidential Election Petition
Tribunal PEPT.
In a statement issued Saturday in Abuja, the coalition also
accused the Civil Society Situation Room and legal luminary, Olisa Agbakoba of
inconsistencies in their assessments of the 2023 general election.
“While the elections
produced a President, Vice President, 28 State Governors (minus the six states
where elections are off-season), 109 Senators and 360 Members of the House of
Representatives, supporters of the Labour Party LP and the Peoples Democratic
Party PDP have been inconsolable, employing both conventional and unorthodox
means to prove that the 2023 Presidential Election was rigged.
“At the same, both parties have filed their respective
petitions at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal PEPT which is
currently sitting. One would have expected that as law abiding citizens seeking
to truly serve the country, the Presidential candidates of the LP, PDP and
their supporters would refrain from canvassing the issues raised in their
petitions outside the Tribunal”, said Constantine Ikechukwu, Chairman, Board of
Trustees BoT of the coalition.
The coalition noted that unfortunately, both the
petitioners, their lawyers and supporters have continued to make disparaging
remarks about the outcome of election in public.
“In fact, their lawyers, who are Learned Silks, have
continued to make unsavory comments to the media about the outcome of the
election which they are challenging. Besides, LP supporters, referred to as
‘Obidients’ have turned the social media, especially Twitter, to a battleground
where they abuse, curse, and denigrate anybody no matter how highly placed,
that disagrees with their position. Supporters of the All Progressives Congress
APC have sadly joined them in this spectacle of shame.
“Some foreign observers and local civil society
organisations have also been making subjective and unsubstantiated comments
about the election, even when none of them observed up to half of the 176,606
Polling Units where the election took place. Everything is beginning to look
like a playbook.
“The other day, the disunited Nigeria Civil Society
Situation Room released a politically motivated Report on the election, with
the Convener, Ene Obi, asking the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu to
apologize to the nation, only for three members of the same body to openly
disagree with her comments, which they insisted were not contained in the Report.
“Interestingly, while the self-contradictory Report
applauded INEC’s preparations for the polls and acknowledged the immense
security and extraneous challenges it faced, the group wrongly blamed the
Commission for political violence, acrimonious, monetised party primaries and
bitter political party campaigns which are outside the Commission’s control.
“Also recently, Olisa Agbakoba, a Senior Advocate of
Nigeria, in a tweet, congratulated President Bola Tinubu on winning the
election, but asked the President to sack the INEC Chairman that conducted the
election. We consider his position as self-contradictory, dishonest, and
patronizing. You cannot congratulate a man for winning an election and then ask
him to sack the person that conducted the same election.
“The Federal Republic of Nigeria is greater than any
individual or his ambition. In furtherance of our strong belief in one
indivisible and prosperous Nigeria, we strongly condemn the continued disregard
for the rule of law by the LP, PDP, and their supporters with their unmitigated
and disparaging comments on the outcome of the 2023 Presidential Election even
when the PEPT is busy hearing their petitions.
“You cannot seek redress in court and at the same time
continue to resort to self-help. We regard the blitzkrieg method employed by
the LP and PDP lawyers to use the media to convict INEC in the arena of public
opinion as a disservice to the rule of law and the legal profession. We also
strongly condemn the blatant threats being made by LP, PDP, their lawyers, and
supporters against the Justices of the PEPT hearing the petition, to either
give a judgement favourable to them or be damned.
“We also view the incessant virulent attacks on INEC and its
Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu as condescending, emotive, subjective, and
irrational. While we agree that the 2023 Presidential Election was not perfect,
there is no concrete evidence to show that the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood
Yakubu rigged the election in favour of the APC as alleged or broke any electoral
law.
“After a careful study of the 1999 Constitution and the
Electoral Act 2022, we are convinced that in declaring Ahmed Bola Tinubu as
President-Elect at the National Collation Centre, Prof. Yakubu only performed
his statutory role and did not break any known law. On the contrary, he would
have broken the law with serious consequences if he had failed to make that
declaration. Thankfully, the law also gives aggrieved parties the opportunity
to challenge the outcome of the election in court, which they have rightly
done.
“All aggrieved parties must now sheath their swords, stop
the ongoing verbal war on the social media, and allow the Tribunal to conclude
its assignment in peace. More importantly, Nigerian politicians should learn to
imbibe the spirit of sportsmanship in politics instead of crying foul each time
an election result did not favour them. There is no gain in do-or-die
politics”, the coalition added.
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