Stop smear campaign, face our team at tribunal, PDP tells Buhari, APC

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asked President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to stop “unnecessary fabrications, smear campaign” and prepare to face its legal team at the Presidential Election Tribunal.

The party in a statement on Monday night by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan said  “Buhari is overweighed by the burden of illegitimacy, following overwhelming evidence before the tribunal that he stole the presidential mandate, hence this lame attempt at blackmailing the tribunal by engaging in clear acts of subjudice.”

The PDP said that the facts and issues touching on the INEC server were already within the public domain and Nigerians were already at home with them.

“By resorting to shadow-boxing outside the tribunal, President Buhari and the APC have shown that they have no defence to present to the court against PDP’s submission that they stole our mandate.

“It is even more appalling that Festus Keyamo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and a member of Buhari’s legal team, who should know better, would engage in this act of subjudice designed to distort facts already known to Nigerians, that our presidential candidate and former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, clearly won the February 23 presidential election.

“Since it has become clear that President Buhari has no defence to present to the court, we counsel him to save the nation further stress by surrendering our mandate, which was freely given by majority of Nigerians to Atiku Abubakar,” the party said.