Atiku Abubakar, the candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party in the presidential election, claims that the ruling of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal has not succeeded in restoring Nigerians’ faith in the possibility of a free and fair election free from human interference.
Atiku stated this during a press conference on Thursday, after the PEPT’s decision on Wednesday to dismiss all petitions challenging the election of President Bola Tinubu as the leader of the nation. Atiku said he would then go to the Supreme Court in an effort to overturn the decision of the election tribunal.
“The last presidential election in our country and the way it was managed by the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission, leaves behind unenviable precedents, which I believe the courts have a duty to redress,” Atiku said.
The former vice president added that INEC’s handling of the most recent presidential election severely undermined the nation’s progress toward ensuring transparent elections through the use of technology.
Suggesting that the PEPT verdict has failed in restoring the hopes of Nigerians towards attaining a free and fair election, Atiku said: “I am afraid that the judgment of the court as rendered by the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal yesterday, failed to restore confidence in our dreams of free and fair elections devoid of human manipulations.”
News About Nigeria reports that his comment comes after the leadership of his party earlier rejected the verdict delivered by the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.
In a similar move, the Abure faction of the Labour Party on Wednesday rejected the verdict of the tribunal detailing that it was waiting to get the certified true copy of the tribunal’s verdict before announcing its next line of action.
