The Presidency, on Monday, accused the Peoples Democratic Party and its presidential candidate in the February polls, Atiku Abubakar, of making “wild and libellous allegations” against President Bola Tinubu and the judiciary, describing the claims as a desperate attempt to undermine Nigeria’s democratic institutions.
The PDP and Atiku Abubakar questioned the integrity of the judiciary following recent court judgments that sacked some governors of the party and others across a few states.
According to the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, these allegations arise in the context of the PDP’s poor performance in recent appeal court rulings regarding the election of some of its governors.
“The PDP and former Vice President and his spokesman have become overtly desperate to hang their woes on President Tinubu and the judiciary,” Onanuga remarked in a signed statement late Monday, titled, ‘PDP, Atiku raising false alarm.’
Onanuga emphasised that the PDP and Atiku have neglected introspection, instead choosing to blame external forces for their electoral shortcomings.
He dismissed the PDP’s claims that Tinubu, during his tenure as the Lagos State Governor, suppressed opposition and compromised the judiciary, further accusing them of attempting to destabilise Nigeria’s political landscape.
“While we do not hold brief for the judiciary, we urge Nigerians to discountenance the malicious allegations by the PDP and its candidate that President Tinubu as governor of Lagos, silenced the opposition and corrupted the judiciary and that he is planning to foist a one-party state on the country by appointing “loyalists” as Resident Electoral Commissioners.
“President Tinubu is a Democrat to the core. We make bold to say that as president, he has not interfered with the judgment of the judiciary,” said Onanuga.
Refuting the notion of Tinubu interfering with judicial processes, he cited instances where PDP candidates triumphed over All Progressives Congress candidates in Supreme and Appeal courts, underlining Tinubu’s commitment to democracy and the rule of law.
Onanuga argued “We had witnessed how under his watch, the PDP governor in Osun defeated the APC at the Supreme Court.
“Similarly, the PDP governor in Bauchi also won his case in the Appeal Court, beating the APC.”
He said Tinubu is also not planning to impose a one-party state as Atiku has serially alleged, and his party and spokesman have now echoed.
“These allegations are deliberately aimed at unnecessarily heating up the polity and causing disenchantment in our country.
“They exist only in the imagination of the PDP and the former vice-president,” the statement read.
The statement also contrasted Tinubu’s democratic credentials with those of Abubakar, accusing the latter of electoral misconduct in the past.
It read, “Unlike Atiku Abubakar, President Tinubu’s record as a Democrat par excellence and a strong advocate of the rule of law has been globally acknowledged.
“In contrast, it is on record that Atiku Abubakar recently confessed about the electoral heist his party executed in the South West in 2003 which Tinubu survived out of the six governors of the defunct Alliance for Democracy.”
The Presidency cited a case in 2019 when the court ruled against the APC in Zamfara State, arguing that Atiku and PDP ought not to be “crying wolf” over the Appeal Court’s rulings on governorship polls in Plateau, Zamfara and Nasarawa States,
Therefore, it called out the PDP’s inconsistency, noting their previous celebration of court rulings in their favour, while now criticising the judiciary for decisions against them.
Onanuga urged the PDP and Atiku to cease their “campaign of calumny” against the judiciary, stressing that legal judgments are grounded in law and evidence, not personal sentiments.
