Former President, Muhammadu Buhari has expressed his satisfaction with the ruling of the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal (PEPT), which confirmed the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the February 25 election.
Buhari in a statement by his media aide, Garba Shehu, on Wednesday, said the Tribunal has “written history” by withstanding intimidation and all manner of prejudice to deliver justice according to law and to a majority of Nigerians whose wish has been for the choices they made to be respected.
“If anybody has won today it is the democracy and the people,” adding that “with the verdict of the Supreme Court, the election period is over and it is time to put the heat and dust behind us.
“From here, the new APC administration led by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu should get the support of everyone in order to deliver the promises it made to the people,” he said.
The former President also expressed his appreciation to all Nigerians for maintaining peace throughout the period and prayed for continued progress and development under the APC government.
He sent warm congratulations to the President, the Vice President, and the APC on the victory in court, expressing his best wishes to them in fulfilling the people’s aspirations.
Meanwhile, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and his Labour Party counterpart, Peter Obi, have rejected Wednesday’s court judgement declaring Tinubu as duly elected Nigeria’s president.
The Labour Party similarly criticised the judgement on Wednesday, stating that the verdict did not reflect the “desires of the people”.
They have vowed to appeal against the judgement of the Presidential Election Petition Court at the Supreme Court, the final court on presidential election disputes.
Speaking to journalists in Abuja after the pronouncement of the tribunal, the National Publicity Secretary of the Labour Party, Obiora Ifoh, said the judgement did not reflect the law and the desire of the people.
Mr Ifoh said the party would not relent until the people’ will prevail because “justice was not served” in the judgement delivered.
“The Labour Party watched with dismay and trepidation the dismissal of petitions by the five-person panel of the Presidential Election Petition Court led by Justice Haruna Tsammani today, and we reject the outcome of the judgment in its entirety because justice was not served, and it did not reflect the law and the desire of the people.
“Nigerians were witnesses to the electoral robbery that took place on February 25, 2023, which was globally condemned, but the Tribunal, in its wisdom, refused to accept the obvious. What is at stake is democracy, and we will not relent until the people will prevail.”
He said the party would present a more detailed position when it gets the certified true copy of the judgment.
Addressing journalists shortly after the verdict, which lasted 13 hours, Atiku’s lead lawyer, Chris Uche, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), said he had already got his client’s instruction to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.
“We have our client’s strong instruction to appeal the judgement,” Mr Uche said.
In the same vein, Mr Obi’s lead counsel, Livy Uzoukwu, a SAN, expressed the Labour Party’s presidential candidate’s displeasure over the court decision.
“Our clients are dissatisfied with the judgement just delivered. I have the firm instruction of our client to challenge the judgement on appeal,” the senior lawyer said
