By Jude Opara and David Torough, Abuja

In his first official reaction to the ruling of the Supreme Court on his appeal against the declaration of President Bola Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 Presidential election, the candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the said election, Mr.

Obi who addressed a World Press Conference on Monday at the Labour Party campaign office in Abuja, said he will not be deterred by the ruling of the apex court which he said abandoned its responsibilities as a court of law and policy.

This was even as the presidency responded swiftly to his reaction telling the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party to stop casting aspersions on the Supreme Court and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for not declaring him the winner of the February 25, 2023 election.

Obi, in a prepared text titled: From Courtrooms to National Conscience: Our Democracy is the Victim, the LP flag bearer said after a deep reflection of the ruling, he came to the conclusion that the Supreme Court ruling contradicted the overwhelming evidence of election rigging and deliberate failure of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to follow its own guidelines in the conduct of the election.

“As someone who has previously benefited from the rulings of the Supreme Court on electoral matters, I have, after a period of deep and sober reflection, decided to personally and formally react to the recent judgment as most Nigerians have. Because we are confronted with   very   weighty   issues   of   national   interest, I will speak forthrightly. As students   young   lads   at   CKC, Onitsha, we were taught values and admonished to always; “choose the harder right, instead of the easier wrong.”

“Setting legal issues aside, the Supreme Court exhibited a disturbing aversion to public opinion just as it abandoned its responsibility as a court of law and policy. It is, therefore, with great dismay that I observe that the Court’s decision contradicts the overwhelming evidence of election rigging, false claim of a technical   glitch, substantial   non-compliance with rules set by INEC itself as well as matters of perjury, identity theft, and forgery that have been brought to light in the course of this election matter. These were hefty allegations that should not be treated with   levity. 

“More   appalling, the   Supreme Court judgment willfully condoned breaches of the Constitution relative to established qualifications and parameters for candidates in presidential elections. With this   counter-intuitive   judgment, the Supreme Court has transferred a heavy moral burden from the   courtrooms to our national conscience. Our young democracy is ultimately the main victim and casualty of the courtroom drama”.

The former governor of Anambra state also described the ruling of the Supreme Court as an unreasonable display of negative force. He further cited the position of the recently retired judge of the Supreme Court, Musa Dattijo who equally called for a total overhaul of the entire judiciary.

“Without equivocation, this judgment amounts to a total breach of the confidence the Nigerian people have in our judiciary. To that extent, it is a show of unreasonable force against the very Nigerian people from whom the power of the Constitution derives. This Supreme Court ruling may represent the state of the law in 2023 but not the present demand for substantive   justice.  The   judgment   mixed   principles   and   precepts. Indeed, the rationale and premise of the Supreme Court judgment have become clearer in the light of the deep revealing and troubling valedictory   remarks by Hon. Justice Musa Dattijo   Muhammad, (JSC) on Friday 27th October 2023.

“In disagreeing very strongly with the ruling of both the Presidential Petitions Court (PEPC) and the Supreme Court on the outcome of the 25th February 2023 Presidential election as declared by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as democrats who believe in the rule of law, we recognize that the Supreme Court is the end stage of the quest for legal closure to the matter.

“As a party and as candidates, Datti and I have now exhausted all legal and constitutional remedies available to us. However, this end is only another beginning in our quest for the vindication of the hope of the common man for a better country. After all, sovereignty belongs to the people! If only for historical purposes, it behooves us to place our disagreement with and deep reservations about this judgment on public record.

“We have long been aware of how weak national institutions have negatively   affected   our   democracy.   This   year   2023   has   been   quite remarkable and revealing.  INEC has displayed incompetence in the conduct   of   its   statutory   duty.   The   judiciary   has   largely   acted   in defiance of constitutional tenets, precedents, and established ground rules. Political expediency has preceded judicial   responsibility.  A mechanical application of technicalities has superseded the pursuit of justice and fairness. Both INEC and the Supreme Court as the referees, respectively shifted the goalposts in the middle of the game.”

Obi added that going forward, he will intensify his desire to have a nation where every citizen will have his fair opportunity to excel adding that there must be a new narrative to move the country from consumption to production.

“Our mission and mandate remain unchanged. From the very onset, our mission has been more about enthroning a new Nigeria. It is a new nation where things work, where the country is led from its present waste and consumption orientation to a production-driven economy.

“Our commitment is to a nation   anchored   on   the   principles   of prudent management of resources to   quickly pull millions out of multidimensional poverty, ensuring transparency and accountability in   the   equitable   distribution   of   opportunities, resources, and privileges. In the new Nigeria, we aim to address all unmet needs by showing compassion for all those left behind by the present system.

“Going   forward, we in the Labour Party and the Obidient Movement are glad that the nation   has   heard   us   loud   and   clear.   We   shall   now   expand   the confines of our message of hope to the rest of the country. We shall meet the people in the places where they feel pain and answer their needs for hope. At marketplaces, motor parks, town halls, board rooms, and   university   and   college   campuses, we   all   carry   and deliver the message of a new Nigeria. As stakeholders and elected Labour Party officials, we shall remain loyal to our manifesto. We will continue to canvas for good governance and focus on issues that promote national interest, unity, and cohesion”.

He promised that the LP will continue to   give   primacy   to   the   Constitution, the   rule   of   law, and   the protection   of   ordered liberties, as well as    offer   the   checks   and balances   required   in   a   functional   democracy.

With him at the briefing were chieftains of the party including the Director General of the Obi –Datti Campaign Organization, Akin Oshuntokun.

In it response to Obi, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga  on Monday in a statement, said the Labour Party Presidential candidate in the last election, Mr. Peter Obi, just like Atiku Abubakar, cast aspersions on the Supreme Court and the Independent National Electoral Commission for not declaring him the winner of the February 25, 2023 election.

Onanuga said they were at a loss as to how the copy-cat Obi and his faction of the Labour Party convinced themselves they won an election in which they came a distant third.

According to him, the grand delusion that made Mr. Obi believe he could have won a national election where he ran the most hateful, divisive and polarising campaign that pitched Christians against Muslims and one ethnic group against the other in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society like Nigeria should be a matter for deeper examination.

The statement read: “At the press conference where he tried, in vain, to gaslight Nigerians with false claims and innuendos, Mr. Obi contradicted himself.  Here was a beneficiary of judicial pronouncements in the past now castigating the same court because its judgment did not go his way.

Mr. Obi claimed the Supreme Court justices didn’t consider public opinion in delivering what has been applauded as a most profound judgement in an election appeal where the Labour Party candidate presented the most watery and unreasonable petition before any court in the history of electoral cases in Nigeria.

We wonder how the Labour Party candidate expected  the courts to do justice on the basis of rumours, lies and false narratives by sponsored partisans and fanatical members of his Obidient Movement.

We expected the Labour Party candidate to know that the Supreme Court or any other court does not give judgment based on public opinion and mob sentiments. Judicial pronouncements are based on evidence, precedents and the rule of law.

Having admitted that the Supreme Court ruling brought an end to litigation and any challenge to the bona-fide of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the validly elected leader of Nigeria and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Obi should have congratulated President Tinubu for his victory and pledge his support, in the spirit of statesmanship.

But instead, he brought up extraneous matters that he thought the apex court should have considered to declare him the winner. In our view, the drowning Obi, just like Atiku, was merely attempting to hold on to a straw in raking up new allegations, which exist only in his imagination and that of his hordes of supporters.

Our admonition to Mr. Peter Obi is to find another worthwhile vocation to engage his time henceforth, having been rejected by majority of Nigerians who didn’t consider him qualified to lead our country.

If Mr. Peter Obi truly believes in Nigeria, the time to prove it is now when all men and women of goodwill are rallying support for President Tinubu in his determination to lead a new era of prosperity, inclusive governance and economic growth in Nigeria.

Finally, we welcome Obi and his party to play the role of the opposition and start preparing for another shot at the presidency in 2027.