The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has criticized the Supreme Court’s ruling which affirmed the ruling APC’s Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the winner of the February 2023 election — as announced by the electoral body, INEC. Obi promised to continue to champion an agenda for a “New Nigeria”.
The Supreme Court of Nigeria, in its ruling on October 26, 2023, rejected an attempt to overturn the election result by the main opposition leader Atiku Abubakar and Obi, who came in second and third in the vote, slamming the door on any legal challenge against Tinubu, who says he won fairly.
The Supreme Court judgment followed a pattern seen in previous presidential elections that have been challenged in court. None of the attempts to overturn results through the courts has been successful.
Speaking for the first time since the ruling, Obi, a former two-term governor who campaigned as an outsider, told reporters the judgment was a disappointment and contradicted overwhelming evidence of election rigging, false claims of technical glitches, and other irregularities.
He said the ruling was a “total breach of the confidence the Nigerian people have in our judiciary” and a “show of unreasonable force against the very Nigerian people from whom the power of the Constitution derives”.
Despite the setback, Obi vowed to remain in the opposition and continue fighting for a “New Nigeria”, pledging to remain committed to good governance to ensure the country was led away from what he called its current waste and consumption orientation to a production-driven economy.
“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,” Obi said.
Obi’s supporters, known as the “Obidients”, have been vocal in their criticism of the Supreme Court ruling. They have accused the court of being biased and of protecting the interests of the ruling party.
Obi’s rejection of the Supreme Court ruling is likely to resonate with his supporters, mostly young Nigerians who were attracted by his message of hope and change and see him as a break from the old guard.Ref: Reuters
