The Presidency, on Monday, told Labour Party Presidential candidate in the February 25 elections, Peter Obi that no court in the country gives judgment based on public opinion.
This is as the Presidency also noted that having admitted that the Supreme Court ruling brought an end to litigation and any challenge to the victory of President Bola Tinubu, Obi should have congratulated the President and pledged his support, in the spirit of statesmanship.
Reacting to Obi’s press conference on Monday, where he disagreed with the Supreme Court verdict, the presidency in a statement issued by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information & Strategy, said it welcomed the pledge by Obi and his party to play the role of the opposition and urged him to start preparing for another shot at the presidency in 2027.
The statement titled, “Peter Obi should find better vocation instead of casting aspersions on the judiciary read:
“Labour Party Presidential candidate in the last election, Mr Peter Obi, addressed a press conference, just like Atiku Abubakar, where he cast aspersions on the Supreme Court and the Independent National Electoral Commission for not declaring him the winner of the February 25, 2023 election.
“We are at a loss as to how the copycat Obi and his faction of the Labour Party convinced themselves they won an election in which they came a distant third.
“The grand delusion that made Mr Obi believe he could have won a national election where he ran the most hateful, divisive and polarising campaign that pitched Christians against Muslims and one ethnic group against the other in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society like Nigeria should be a matter for deeper examination.
“At the press conference where he tried, in vain, to gaslight Nigerians with false claims and innuendos, Mr Obi contradicted himself. Here was a beneficiary of judicial pronouncements in the past now castigating the same court because its judgment did not go his way.
“Mr Obi claimed the Supreme Court justices didn’t consider public opinion in delivering what has been applauded as a most profound judgement in an election appeal where the Labour Party candidate presented the most watery and unreasonable petition before any court in the history of electoral cases in Nigeria.
“He made false allegations of rigging and other electoral malpractices yet could not produce any evidence to back up his claims at both the court of first instance and at the apex court. In a failed effort to mobilise and retain the support of his supporters, Obi gave them a forlorn hope that he won the election and would prove it before the courts. Throughout the trial, his lawyers didn’t present any alternative results different from the results INEC uploaded on the IReV portal and the ones signed by all party agents from the 176,000 polling units.
“We wonder how the Labour Party candidate expected the courts to do justice based on rumours, lies and false narratives by sponsored partisans and fanatical members of his Obedient Movement.
“We expected the Labour Party candidate to know that the Supreme Court or any other court does not give judgment based on public opinion and mob sentiments. Judicial pronouncements are based on evidence, precedents and the rule of law.
“Having admitted that the Supreme Court ruling brought an end to litigation and any challenge to the bonafide of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the validly elected leader of Nigeria and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Obi should have congratulated President Tinubu for his victory and pledge his support, in the spirit of statesmanship.
“But instead, he brought up extraneous matters that he thought the apex court should have considered to declare him the winner. In our view, the drowning Obi, just like Atiku, was merely attempting to hold on to a straw in raking up new allegations, which exist only in his imagination and that of his hordes of supporters.”
