S/Court judgement revolution postponed — Obi

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, has said the recent judgement of the Supreme Court on the 2023 Nigeria Presidential Election has only postponed the revolution his presidential ambition has started.

Obi, who addressed the media on Monday in Abuja in company of his running mate, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, criticized the ruling of the apex court on the presidential election but applauded the judgment of the court as it relates to the leadership crisis of his party. 

He also said the recent actions and policy thrust of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the National Assembly are inhuman and anti-people.

“I thank all Nigerians who believed in what is now only a revolution postponed. We deeply appreciate the unalloyed non-partisan moral support millions of youth and ordinary Nigerians across ethnic, religious and geopolitical divides have continued to give to Dr Datti Baba-Ahmed and me.

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“As someone who has previously benefited from the rulings of the Supreme Court on electoral matters, I have, after a period of deep and sober reflection, decided to personally and formally react to the recent judgment as most Nigerians have. Because we are confronted with very weighty issues of national interest,” Obi said.

He lamented that the Supreme Court exhibited a disturbing aversion to public opinion just as it abandoned its responsibility as a court of law and policy.

Obi expressed dismay that the court’s decision contradicts the overwhelming evidence of election rigging, false claim of a technical glitch, substantial non-compliance with rules set by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as well as matters of perjury, identity theft, and forgery that have been brought to light in the course of this election matter.

He noted that these were hefty allegations that should not be treated with levity and that more appalling, the Supreme Court judgment willfully condoned breaches of the constitution relative to established qualifications and parameters for candidates in presidential elections.

The former Anambra State governor said that as a party and as candidates, they have exhausted all legal and constitutional remedies available to them and henceforth and now effectively in the opposition together with his Obidient Movement.

Obi also said while he did not have any regret of not working with the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, during the 2023 election, the six-year single presidency tenure proposed by Atiku, is a welcome development, but that his own idea of single presidency is a five-year rotational presidency that would move across the six geo-political zones.

He said with this arrangement, the presidency would have gone round the country in 30 years.

But in its reaction, the Presidency asked Obi to find a better vocation instead of casting aspersions on the judiciary.

Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, in a statement, said Obi ought to have congratulated the president instead of bringing up “extraneous matters that he thought the apex court should have considered to declare him the winner.”

He, however, “welcome Obi and his party to play the role of the opposition and start preparing for another shot at the presidency in 2027.

“We hope by then he would campaign on issues and not whip up religious and ethnic sentiments as he did in the last campaign.”