…we got judgement, not justice –Atiku
Litigants may resort to self help if…Obi
The 2023 presidential flag bearer of Labour Party, Peter Obi has kept mum about his next action hours after the Presidential Election Tribunal, PET, trashed his petitions against the victory of President Bola Tinubu in the judgement delivered on Wednesday.
In the contrary, another conteder who also lost at tribunal, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, said he will approach the Supreme Court to set aside the election of President Bola Tinubu.
Speaking through his team of lawyers led by Chief Chris Uche, SAN, the PDP candidate, said he only got judgement from the court and not justice.
“Judgement has just been delivered but we have not received justice. Luckily, the Constitution has given us the right to go on appeal.
“This is the court of first instance. We still have the right to go on appeal to the Supreme Court and you see, this is a struggle that is not just for our client, but for the Constitution of this country, for the rule of law and democracy.
“We were expecting an outcome that will improve, encourage the use of technology to enhance election management, to enhance transparency, to enhance accountability, so that Nigerians will believe in democracy.
“So that Nigerians can come out in their masses like they did, to vote. We don’t want Nigerians to be discouraged.
“There are certain things and principle of law that he know that we need to explore and we strongly believe that when we get to Supreme Court, it will have the opportunity to review a number of things that have been said here today.
“We have the instruction of our client to go to the Supreme Court. So, we have asked for the records. We have asked for the judgement. We are going to apply for the transmission of the records because we have a very limited time to push this.
“So, the struggle continues and as it is said, it is not over until it is over,” Atiku’s lawyer added.
The lawyer of the Labour Party presidential candidate, Livy Uzoukwu, SAN, has vowed to appeal the judgement stressing that litigants who are dissatisfied with the outcome of an election may resort to self-help if they continue to find it very difficult to establish their case owing to obstacles from government institutions like the Independent National Electoral Commission.
He warned that, “If we are not careful, our electoral jurisprudence will eventually disappear. I am saying this with every amount of sincerity because when the litigant, when those who contested the election continue to find it very difficult to establish their case due to obstacles on the way, starting with INEC, certainly they may resort to some other means of trying to get justice, which may not be lawful.
“Also, I commend the Court of Appeal for introducing live streaming. You may recall that we applied to the court to have live streaming of all the proceedings, but the court, in its wisdom did not grant the application.
“But now, in the end, they saw the wisdom in it and the need to guarantee transparency, hence, live streaming of the judgement.
“Certainly, it would have been better if it was live streaming of the entire proceedings so that the public would have the chance to watch and be able to relate properly with the judgement.
“So, I will hope and pray that this time, it will be continuous, starting from the beginning of a case.
“That is the only way that you can guarantee transparency because when something is open, Nigerians will see things for themselves and they will make up their minds, one way or the other,” he said.
