Poll judgment: APC mocks PDP, says Atiku can’t win at World Court

The All Progressives Congress and the Federal Government on Thursday derided the opposition Peoples Democratic Party and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, over the judgment of the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal.

The tribunal had on Wednesday dismissed the petition filed by Atiku and the PDP challenging the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC  at the February 23, 2019 presidential election.

The PDP and Atiku had said that they would challenge the judgment,  which they described as subversion of justice,   at the Supreme Court.

The judges compared the evidence provided by Atiku  to “a drop in the ocean.”

But on Thursday, the APC National Chairman, Mr Adams Oshiomhole,  boasted that the PDP would always lose to the ruling party even if it took its petition to the World Court.

Oshiomhole, who spoke with State House correspondents after meeting with Buhari on Thursday,  mocked the PDP, saying that the Supreme Court would merely adopt the judgment of the tribunal, since the opposition really had no evidence to substantiate its petition.

He had visited Buhari in company with the APC women leaders led by the National Women Leader, Hajia Salamatu Umar-Eluma.

He said,   “We as a party we are confident that if it is within the Nigerian law for the PDP to go even to the World Court, we will meet them there. The Supreme Court of Nigeria is not that of the PDP or the APC. The Supreme Court is governed by law and it’s to interpret the evidence before the Court of Appeal. They are not at liberty to introduce new issues, neither can they bring in new witnesses.

“So, if it is what I heard yesterday, which I believe you also heard; thanks to the media, most Nigerians were detained for eight hours listening to arguments of the judges one after the other. Even though we thought it was getting longer and longer, we realised that they tried to deal with the issues raised, even the ones you and I as laymen will consider inconsequential. They dealt with each of them, trashed them and arrived at a conclusion.

“So, I don’t want to sound arrogant. Yesterday (Wednesday), I said that I hoped this whole contest is about Nigeria, who actually won the election and both parties were committed to building Nigeria.  It’s not about who should be given the key.

“Now, this has been resolved and it is time to queue behind the winner and move on. Our winner is the best example that losing an election is not tantamount to the end of your political life. He lost three previous elections,  and today he is the President.

“President Buhari is now ready to meet defeated Atiku Abubakar at the Supreme Court.  The APC is ready to meet the PDP at the Supreme Court. Adams Oshiomhole is ready to meet my brother, (Uche) Secondus, at the Supreme Court; and he will take second and I will take first, Isha Allah.”

Oshiomhole noted that the mistake of the PDP and Atiku was to reduce the outcome of the election to what he called “social media speculations.”

Meanwhile, the women, at the meeting with Buhari, thanked him for appointing seven women as ministers and for entrusting some key ministries like the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning to women.

Buhari reassured the women that he believed in their managerial abilities, a reason he appointed a woman as his finance minister.

He noted, “I am happy that I can defend myself very effectively on this issue. The APC leader is my witness. Since the coming into power of this administration, I have handed over the treasury to women.

“Even at household level, you hand over the money to women to manage. It can be taken to the level of managing the country’s treasury as well. I have consistently given it to women. It is strategic.