Supreme Court Judgment: Obi accuses Judges of breach of Constitution, describes INEC as incompetent
By Moses Adeniyi
The Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party at the last general elections, Mr. Peter Obi has broken his silence over the verdict delivered by the Supreme Court on the appeal filed before the apex court by him and the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, challenging the decision of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal Court which earlier upheld the victory of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu at the polls as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Both Obi and Atiku who came third and second in the election respectively, had vowed to explore all legal means to challenge the outcome of the election, alleging malpractices, while also making a case of illegibility of the APC candidate to contest the election.
Of all contentions, only Obi and Atiku’s case made it to the final lap before the Supreme Court.
However, the Court ruled out the arguments of the duo, stating it lacked merit.
While Atiku had last week berated the judgment of the apex court, Obi broke his silence on Monday, barely 11 days after the Supreme Court delivered the Judgment on Thursday 26th October, 2023.
Obi at a world press conference in Abuja to register his reaction to the judgement, described the verdict of the apex court as a “counter-intuitive judgment,” stating that Nigeria’s democracy “is ultimately the main victim and casualty” of what he described as a “courtroom drama.”
Obi argued that the Supreme Court judgment willfully condoned breaches of the Constitution relative to established qualifications and parameters for candidates in presidential elections.
Obi maintained that the Supreme Court “has transferred a heavy moral burden from the courtrooms to our national conscience,” arguing that the apex 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,” he argued.
Obi in his reactions said, “About a fortnight ago, I was traveling abroad on a prior scheduled engagement when I received the notice that the Supreme Court would give judgment on Thursday 26th October 2023 on our challenge of the ruling of the Presidential Election Petitions Court (PEPC). That judgment has since been delivered as scheduled. The leadership of the Labour Party has already pronounced its position on the judgment.
“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.”
He continued, saying that “without equivocation, this judgment amounts to a total breach of the confidence the Nigerian people have in our judiciary,” adding that to that extent, the judgment 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 recognise 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.
“Where the value and import of the recent Supreme Court ruling ends is where our commitment to a New Nigeria begins.
“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,” he added.
Obi said going forward, he and the Labour Party and the Obidient Movement are now effectively in the opposition.
“We 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. We will continue to give primacy to our Constitution, the rule of law, and the protection of ordered liberties. We will offer the checks and balances required in a functional democracy and vie robustly in forthcoming elections to elect those who share our vision of a new Nigeria.
“Given our present national circumstances, there is a compelling need for a strong political opposition. We shall, therefore, remain in opposition, especially because of the policies and the governance modalities that we in the Labour Party campaigned for, especially reducing the cost of governance, moving the nation from consumption to production, reducing inflation, ending insecurity, promoting the rule of law, guaranteeing the responsibility to protect, and stabilizing the Nigerian currency; are clearly not the priorities of the present administration nor is it interested in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” he added
He continued, saying that “If there is one thing that has immensely gladdened my heart in the course of the struggle of the past 18 months, it is the passionate desire of our people, especially our young people from across ethnic and religious divides, to construct a new and restructured Nigeria that will work for all Nigerians. That goal remains my guiding light and abiding inspiration.
“Finally, I thank all Nigerians who believed in what is now only a revolution postponed. We deeply appreciate the unalloyed non-partisan moral support millions of youth and ordinary Nigerians across ethnic, religious, and geopolitical divides have continued to give to Dr. Datti Baba-Ahmed and me.”
Atiku had taken a similar stand while condemning the verdict of the Supreme Court last week, mentioning that the apex court rewarded illegalities.
The former Vice President had expressed a blurry picture of the Country’s future with the verdict delivered by the apex court.
“We showed irrefutable evidence of gross irregularities, violence, and manipulations during the elections. We showed incontrovertible evidence that INEC violated the Electoral Act and deliberately sabotaged its own publicly announced processes and procedures in order to illegally declare Tinubu elected. The position of the Supreme Court, even though final, leaves so much unanswered,” he had said.
Atiku who took efforts to expose alleged forgery of academic records presented by President Tinubu to the INEC had settled that his generation has failed in the path to restructure Nigeria, but expressed confidence in younger breeds to lead the struggle to deepen democracy and rule of law for the political and economic restructuring of the country.
“As for me and my party, this phase of our work is done. However, I am not going away. For as long as I breathe I will continue to struggle, with other Nigerians, to deepen our democracy and rule of law and for the political and economic restructuring the country needs to reach its true potential. That struggle should now be led by the younger generation of Nigerians who have even more at stake than my generation,” he had said.
While Atiku called for constitutional amendments to allow, among others, for a six-year single term for the Presidency and to ensure the completion of the litigation on elections before the inauguration of the winner, and also that all litigation arising from a disputed election must be concluded before the inauguration of a winner, he was berated by political actors, while the Presidency told him to “to finally go away and end his ambition to be President.
