It has been over a year since Nigeria held a keenly observed general election but this has not deterred the country’s main opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), from filing a fresh case against the results.
The PDP has revealed plans to approach the Nigerian Supreme Court to review its judgment on a previously filed petition questioning the results of the 2019 Presidential Elections, as well as rulings made regarding the outcome of governorship elections held in Kaduna, Osun, Kano, and Katsina states in the country.
The PDP announced this at a press conference in Nigeria tagged, “Position of the PDP on the desperation of the APC to subjugate, intimidate for the purpose of annexing the Supreme Court over Imo, Bayelsa and Zamfara governorship election judgments,” which took place at the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja.
Retaliation
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, while addressing members of the press at the event on Monday, accused the ruling party of attempting to “destroy our hard-earned democracy especially the judiciary.” He added that the party found it “ludicrous, ridiculous and insulting to the sensibilities and respect of the Supreme Court Justices for the APC to hurriedly and malevolently head to the Supreme Court to attempt to arm-twist the Lord Justices to effect a forceful reversal of the valid, flawless and faultless judgments on Bayelsa and Zamfara states governorship elections.”
Ologbondiyan further explained the party’s stance on the issue saying: “The National Working Committee of the PDP, after comprehensive consultations, states that our party has no choice left, given the manner with which the APC has conducted itself than to ask for a review of the judgment of the presidential election petition tribunal, where the issue of certificate forgery and or presentation of false information in aid of qualifications was established against the APC and her presidential candidate.”
‘PDP is a joke’ – APC Nigeria
Responding to the opposition party’s decision, the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Larne Issa-Onilu in a statement released Monday evening, said: “For the All Progressives Congress, the PDP’s latest antics are not surprising. Nigerians will recall that we have consistently reiterated that the opposition party, having been overwhelmingly rejected at the polls in 2015 and 2019, has been exhibiting strange behaviours.
“We believe it has been difficult for some leaders of the PDP to cope for so long outside of power. There is obviously a lot of idleness at the Wadata House Secretariat of the PDP.”
Supreme Court Rulings So Far
In October last year, the Supreme Court dismissed a petition brought forward by PDP Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, questioning the result of the 2019 Presidential Elections. In its ruling, the apex court stated that the former Vice President failed to prove his case against the re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The court had, in May last year, also nullified the victory of APC’s candidate in the governorship elections in Zamfara state. A hearing has been set for March 2 to review the judgment following an appeal by the APC.
More recently, the Supreme Court ordered INEC to withdraw the certificate of return issued to APC’s Bayelsa state governorship candidate, David Lyon, and his deputy, Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo, after the latter presented false information to the electoral body.
This story is part of our new series on Nigeria where we analyse electoral reform in the country ahead of the next general elections in 2023.
