President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday said the loss of the “strategically important” states of Kano and Plateau would have been a “major blow” had the Supreme Court verdict, which affirmed the elections of Governors Abdullahi Ganduje and Simon Lalong gone otherwise.
“I am glad this tortuous journey has ended in favour of the party and our governors. APC won the states and has proved it in court. It would have been a major blow if strategically important states like Kano and Plateau are lost,” Buhari said in a statement by Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity Garba Shehu.
In an apparent reaction to the nationwide protest by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) following the apex court ruling, which sacked former Imo State Governor Emeka Ihedioha in favour of Senator Hope Uzodinma, he said: “It has now become standard procedure for the opposition to challenge any poll or judgment that does not return its candidates. Election is good when they win; the opposite is the case if someone else emerges. But that is not the way it works. Democracy is not only about who wins or who loses, but also about the process. In disparaging every unfavourable result or judgment, they disparage the entire system.”
The APC yesterday also described the protest by the PDP as “reckless”, “insensitive”, “irresponsible” and “contemptuous.”
In a statement by its national publicity secretary, Lanre Issa-Onilu, the party said: “We know that the PDP will find justice served by our courts very hard to swallow because it has become accustomed to crooked manipulation of due process to its benefit and at the expense of the entire system. Weaning it from this bad modus operandi has proven difficult if not impossible. Every time the PDP loses in court, it declares the decision suspect and our democracy on life support.
“As our records show, APC has lost several seats in the Senate, House of Representatives and State Houses of Assembly across the country. Many have offered real confusion as the decisions departed from our knowledge of our electoral laws. Yet, we have carried ourselves with candour and dignity even in defeat.
“It is against this backdrop that we find the reckless and insensitive actions by the PDP in reaction to the judgment of the apex court regarding Imo State very irresponsible and indeed contemptuous.”
The PDP’s nationwide peaceful protests ended in Abuja yesterday. National Chairman Uche Secondus led the march alongside former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi, who was also the party’s vice presidential candidate in the February 23 presidential election.
Other PDP leaders who joined in the protest are Senate Minority Leader Enyinnaya Abaribe, former Imo State Governor Achike Udenwa, and some House of Representatives members including Chinda Kingsley and Obinna Chidoka.
The demonstration, which took off from Legacy House, Maitama, at 9:30 a.m., moved to the Eagle Square at the Federal Secretariat and terminated in front of the National Assembly.
The #SaveTheJudiciary protesters took to the streets of Abuja, demanding a reversal of the Supreme Court judgment on the Imo governorship election. Similar protests took place on Sunday in some states of the federation including Ogun, Taraba, Gombe, Abia and Kaduna.
Addressing the protesters at the Eagle Square, Secondus said: “We are a nation governed by law. Therefore, all we are seeking today is for our very highly respected jurists at the highest court of the land to revisit and reverse the Imo State judgment because we believe that the figures are not adding up.”
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