The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 25, 2023 presidential election, Atiku Abubakar, says he will not leave the political arena despite the Supreme Court verdict of October 26, 2023 that affirmed the electoral victory of President Bola Tinubu.
“As for me and my party, this phase of work is done. However, I am not going to go away, if you think I am going to go away, forget about it,” the former Vice President said at a press briefing on Monday in the nation’s capital, Abuja.
“For as long as I breathe, I will continue to struggle with other Nigerians to deepen our democracy. I will continue to work for the return of political and economical restructuring that the country needs,” he added.
Atiku Abubakar, a former Vice President between 1999 and 2007, have tried to become Nigeria’s President for about three decades.
Despite his unsuccessful attempts, the PDP stalwart said he won’t “go away”.
Atiku Abubakar insisted that Tinubu, the then candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was not qualified to contest the February 2023 presidential poll.
He accused the Supreme Court and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of supporting illegality, identity theft, impersonation, forgery of certificates and perjury.
Atiku said when people lose confidence in the electoral process, democracy is on life support.
He said though the apex court’s judgment was final, it leaves much to be desired.
Atiku and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart, Peter Obi, had challenged the victory of Tinubu in the last election up to the apex court.
Not satisfied with the verdict of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) earlier in September, Atiku and Obi approached the Supreme Court seeking the nullification of Tinubu’s election on the grounds of double nomination, alleged certificate forgery, non-transmission of results electronically, 25% votes in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), amongst others.
However, last Thursday, the Justice John Okoro-led panel of the apex court threw out all the appeals by Atiku and Obi for lacking merit. The panel thereafter upheld the electoral victory of Tinubu.