A pro-Atiku group, the Atiku Support Organisation, has asked judges sittting on the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) to stand firm for justice ahead of next Monday’s commencement of hearing of petitions arising from the February 25 presidential election.
The Tribubal had fixed Monday, May 8, for the hearing of the petitions challenging the declaration of the All Progressives Congress (APC)standard bearer, Bola Tinubu, as the President-elect.
With this development, the expected legal fireworks by candidates disputing the outcome of the 2023 presidential poll will commence from May 8.
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National Legal Adviser of the APC, Ahmad El-Marzuq, confirmed the date, on Tuesday.
But in a statement issued, on Wednesday, the pro-Atiku group urged the Tribunal judges to remain “resolute and unshaken” in the face of alleged intimidation by some desperate cartels.
The statement signed by ASO National Publicity Secretary, Victor Moses read, “Nigerians are watching, the entire world is watching. Some desperate cartels in the APC are working tirelessly to frustrate and arm-twist the judiciary. Some are already planning the Sudanisation of Nigeria if the case of the worst election in Nigeria since 1960 goes against them.
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“But we believe this petition provides the best opportunity for our judges to make history and strengthen our democracy and laws. It happened in Kenya in September 2017, it can happen in Nigeria and havens will not fall.
“We wish to also strongly maintain that any judgement which fails to return His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar as the validly and duly elected President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, or at least, order for a runoff or a rerun is a miscarriage of justice. The facts are clear and the evidence is too glaring even to the blind.
“The court should be truly the court of justice and not of technicality. The court should be the last hope of the common man and not the last hope of the man with a deep pocket.
“Those who criminally and brazenly rigged themselves into office must not escape justice with substantial consequences on the grounds of technicality.”