Atiku Abubakar, the former PDP presidential candidate, alleges that President Tinubu and APC are employing covert strategies to undermine democracy.
He points to similarities with Tinubu’s influence in Lagos, citing past instances of opposition suppression. Atiku urges unity among people of conscience to safeguard democracy from power-hungry tactics.
He said: “These are clearly ominous signs that threaten not just our faith in the electoral and judicial system but evidence that our democracy is compromised. It is also crystal clear that the ruling party will not desist from this inglorious ideology of ‘snatch, grab and run away with power’.
“It is even more worrisome that what is playing out now in the Plateau governorship election petition is a confirmation of the threat echoed by an APC lawmaker in a viral video that the ruling party will compromise the judicial process to ensure its ultimate victory in the courts.
“It, therefore, means that the times we are in are indeed ominous, and the journey ahead in rescuing our democracy from these buccaneering power grabbers is a long one. It also means that every man and woman of good conscience should come together for this common patriotic purpose.”
The former vice president, however, said, “We are not surprised by what is going on. In Lagos State where Tinubu holds sway as godfather, opposition became an anathema. Everyone including judges were forced to join his party.”
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“The few opposition members who managed to get elected were beaten to submission including at the Lagos State House of Assembly where the sole PDP member back in 2018 was suspended and arrested for gun running but mysteriously had the charges dropped immediately after he defected to the APC.
“Recently, the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) withdrew a N135bn lawsuit it had instituted against an opposition senator from Anambra State less than 24 hours after he had defected to the ruling party. These are the crude methods that Bola Tinubu has employed in order to reduce the ranks of the opposition and consolidate his hold on power.
“Is it not mysterious that it was the same panel that sat and heard all the election petition cases from Plateau State before the Court of Appeal? How is it that in election cases where the PDP came first and the APC came second, the court ordered that the APC be declared winner while in elections where the PDP came first and Labour Party came second, the courts ordered a rerun in order to give the APC a chance of victory?” he quizzed.
PDP asks CJN to probe APC’s judiciary control claim
Similarly, the PDP also said the decisions of the Court of Appeal in Plateau State were already generating tension capable of escalating into a full-blown crisis in Plateau and other parts of the country.
He criticizes the judiciary, claiming it has become a “cash and carry” tool for the ruling party. Expressing concern over controversial court decisions in opposition-controlled states, Atiku warns of a compromised democracy.
The party in a statement by Debo Ologunagba, its National Publicity Secretary, on Monday said citizens are already taking to the streets in protest and called on the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) to immediately set up a Judicial Panel of Inquiry to probe the alleged public boasting by leaders of the APC that they have persons in the judiciary, particularly at the appeal and supreme courts to do their bidding.
