Atiku to Buhari: Stop bullying judiciary with comments on 2023 polls

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the just-concluded election, Atiku Abubakar, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to stop bullying the judiciary over his comments on the outcome of the poll.

Buhari had said the opposition parties were a victim of overconfidence during the 2023 general election while the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) was working hard to retain power.

The President, while speaking at his residence in the State House where he received the APC governors on Thursday, April 27, said the overconfidence of the opposition parties was the main reason they lost the February 25, 2023, presidential election to the ruling party.

However, Atiku, while reacting via a statement issued on Monday, May 1, by his Media Adviser, Paul Ibe, said President Buhari and some government officials were bullying the judiciary by speaking on a matter which is before the court.

The former Vice President added that Buhari failed to deliver on his promise of conducting a free, fair, and credible 2023 general election.

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He said: We have read with disgust the shameful efforts by the Muhammadu Buhari administration in playing the role of chief marketing officer of the electoral heist deliberately orchestrated to keep the ruling All Progressives Congress in power against the wishes of Nigerians.

“Starting from President Muhammadu Buhari himself when he made a remark that will forever remain in infamy while hosting some governors of his party, and alleged ‘the opposition lost the election due to overconfidence and complacency,’ we have seen a pattern whereby senior officials of government are subtly bullying the judiciary to submission.

“While it is generally acknowledged that the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed has a notoriety of acting busybody, it is ridiculous that the Minister will take a cue from his boss to weigh in on a matter that is already before the courts.

“The Muhammadu Buhari-led APC government has already breasted the tape for being the most irresponsible government in Nigeria on account of breaking its promises.

“Whereas President Buhari and his appointee INEC chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu had promised Nigerians and the entire world of conducting a credible, free and fair 2023 general election wherein technology will be deployed to track and protect every single ballot, we have seen how woefully this administration failed to deliver on its promises.

“We will not wish to explain much on the depravity that trailed the conduct of the 2023 general election since it remains a matter before the judiciary.

“However, it is important to caution the APC and, especially, senior officials of the current administration to desist from making commentaries that portend as subtle acts of bullying against the judicial processes that is currently putting the legality of the last election into trial.

“If officials of the Buhari government must explain anything within their remaining days, let it be about telling Nigerians how they failed on their promises including issues of naira redesign; destruction instead of creation of jobs; the pervading state of insecurity and divisions along ethno-religious and political lines; galloping inflation and high cost of living; removing the corruption around the issues of fuel subsidy and their latest promise of conducting a national census, which, typically, they have failed to deliver upon.

“They must also explain to Nigerians why the country that they are leaving behind before going back to Niger Republic is the poverty capital of the world,” Atiku noted.

The Star