Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar, has reacted to the Supreme Court judgment on his appeal against President Buhari’s victory in last election.
Atiku claimed that that Nigeria’s judiciary “has been sabotaged and undermined by an overreaching and dictatorial cabal.”
In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Mr. Paul Ibe, he argued that the judgment was part of the democratic challenges Nigeria was facing as a country, adding that it was left for Nigerians to judge whether justice was truly done at the Supreme Court.
The statement read: “It is said that the Supreme Court is not final because it is infallible, but that it is infallible because it is final.
“While I believe that only God is infallible everywhere, and only Nigerians are infallible in our democracy, I must accept that the judicial route I chose to take, as a democrat, has come to a conclusion.
“As a democrat, I fought a good fight for the Nigerian people. I will keep on fighting for Nigeria and for democracy, and also for justice.
“The Nigerian judiciary, just like every estate of our realm, has been sabotaged and undermined by an overreaching and dictatorial cabal, who have undone almost all the democratic progress the Peoples Democratic Party and its administrations nurtured for 16 years, up until 2015.
“When democracy is rolled back, the economy, the society and the judiciary will not be far behind.
Today, the nail has been put on the coffin and the gains we collectively made since 1999 are evaporating, and a requiem is at hand.
“In a democracy, you need a strong judiciary, a free press and an impartial electoral umpire. Nigeria has none of those three elements as at today.
“One man, one woman, one youth, one vote, should be the only way to make gains in a democracy. And when that is thwarted, the clock starts to tick.
“To those who think they have broken my spirit, I am sorry to disappoint you. I am too focused on Nigeria to think about myself. I gave up that luxury 20 years ago.”