A coalition of over 70 different civil society organizations has commended the eminent members of the Nigerian Judiciary over the verdict they delivered on the appeal brought before them by the two presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Mr Peter Obi respectively challenging the victory of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the February 25 election.
Recall that after a keenly contested presidential election on February 25, among several political parties, the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the presidential candidate of the APC, Tinubu the winner of the election and he has started performing the duties and responsibilities of a President from May 29, 2023 as directed by the country’s constitution.
But Atiku and Obi, who were not satisfied with the declaration of Tinubu took their dissatisfaction to the Election Petition Tribunal where Tinubu was further confirmed as the authentic winner of the poll. Not satisfied again, the duo proceeded to the Apex court where the eminent jurists confirmed the lower tribunal’s verdict as being in order.
It is against the forgoing that the Coalition, in a statement signed by its Convener, Comrade Razaq Olokoba in Lagos weekend commended the eminent jurists for a good job thoroughly done, saying the verdict that has gone down well with the majority of Nigerians has saved the country a lot of hassles it could have faced if it were to be otherwise in terms of political instability, economic setback and social unrest.
The coalition therefore congratulate Tinubu on the Supreme Court outcome of the appeal against his victory, urginging him to see the victory as victory for all Nigerians including Atiku and Obi by extending the Olive Branch to them to join in the art of good governance for the general interest of all and sundry.
The statement also urged Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Mr Peter Obi to exhibit the spirit of statesmanship by accepting the outcome of their case and congratulate Tinubu as patriotic Nigerians whose cases in the court were genuinely to seek to serve their land, saying, “To us in the Civil Society Organizations, the verdict means to victor no vanquished.”
The Coalition also has a word for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to see the verdict as an opportunity to be more focused in the onerous task of nation building which he has started and try as much as possible to make his government an all-inclusive one where nobody would be marginalised or intimidated, reminding that, “the task of nation building is a collective responsibility and not an exclusive duty of the government functionaries alone.”
In conclusion, the coalition therefore assured Mr President of the support and cooperation of its teeming members and supporters across the country and beyond, asserting that, “Tinubu is one of us in the radical extraction of the struggle for democracy, so we cannot and we will not abandon him.”
