The Presidency has described the reaction of former Vice President and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to the Supreme Court ruling affirming the election of Mr Gboyega Oyetola as governor of Osun State as “very ridiculous, and even comical.”
In the statement, the former Vice President had stated: “I urge the nation’s judiciary to take a pulse of the nation and reflect it. In their hands, God has placed a great responsibility. The duty to ensure that justice is done, irrespective of the pressure to do otherwise, by the powers that be.”
Reacting to this in a statement by Femi Adesina, the Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on media and publicity, the Presidency said the particular portion of the statement was devoid of logic, reason, and legality in many ways.
For one, the Presidency noted that while Alhaji Abubakar urged the judiciary to reflect the pulse of the nation in their judgments, learned people know that the judiciary comes to conclusions drawing from matters of law placed before it, and not sentiments, or so-called “pulse of the nation.”
A pertinent question is: how does the judiciary gauge the pulse of the nation? Is it even positioned to do such? Is the judiciary established for that purpose, or to dispense justice, even if the Heavens fall?
“Again, there is insinuation of inducement in the statement, when the PDP candidate said the judiciary should ensure justice is done, “irrespective of the pressure to do otherwise, by the powers that be.”
“We see this as an attempt to browbeat the judiciary, thus causing it to entertain sentiment in the ongoing petition on the presidential election before the tribunal. If anybody has the tendency or proclivity to put pressure on the judiciary, Nigerians know where the finger points, and it is definitely not at President Muhammadu Buhari. This was a man who had thrice taken his electoral challenges to the judiciary, up to the Supreme Court. And not once was he accused of trying to influence the process, or put pressure on the courts.
“When the All Progressives Congress (APC) lost Zamfara and Rivers States, arising from judicial proclamations, then, there was no “pressure to do otherwise, by the powers that be.”
“But now that the victory of the party in Osun was upheld, there is insinuation of pressure from those who have never learnt to play straight.
“President Buhari has always been committed to fair play, which was clearly evident in the last general elections. He remains committed to even-handedness and justice always,” the presidency said while faulting the PDP presidential candidate.