Politics

Atiku Accepts Defeat Says, Nigeria's Judiciary Sabotaged And Undermined By Cabals

Published

5 years ago

Oct 31, 2019.

The Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, Atiku Abubakar, has finally accepted defeat.
Atiku also stressed that Nigeria’s judiciary has been sabotaged and undermined by some cabals in the helm of affairs.
His reaction came shortly after the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal suit he filed challenging the verdict of the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal that upheld the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari in the last presidential election.
Atiku disclosed this in a press statement released on Wednesday in Abuja.
He said “The judgement is part of democratic challenges we must face as a nation. It is said that the Supreme Court is not final because it is infallible, but that it is infallible because it is final. While I believe that only God is infallible everywhere, and only Nigerians are infallible in our democracy, I must accept that the judicial route I chose to take, as a Democrat, has come to a conclusion.
“Whether justice was done, is left to the Nigerian people to decide. As a democrat, I fought a good fight for the Nigerian people. I will keep on fighting for Nigeria and for democracy, and also for justice. I thank all Nigerians who have stayed the course since the commencement of trial in the petition on the February 23 Presidential election.
“The Nigerian judiciary, just like every estate of our realm, has been sabotaged and undermined by an over-reaching and dictatorial cabal, who has undone almost all the democratic progress the Peoples Democratic Party and its administrations nurtured for sixteen years, up until 2015.”
Atiku lamented that the country was fast losing the democratic gains made since 1999.
He said “Can Nigeria continue like this? Recently, former United States Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, averred that Nigeria had rolled back the democratic gains she made in 2015. When democracy is rolled back, the economy, the society and the judiciary will not be far behind. Today, the nail has been put on the coffin and the gains we collectively made since 1999 are evaporating, and a requiem is at hand.
“In a democracy, you need a strong judiciary, a free press and an impartial electoral umpire. Nigeria has none of those three elements as at today. One man, one woman, one youth, one vote, should be the only way to make gains in a democracy. And when that is thwarted, the clock starts to tick. Two and a half millennia ago, Sophocles said “If we are to keep our democracy, there must be one commandment: “Thou shalt not ration justice.” Nigeria will do well to observe this warning.”