The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Sunday, said that the All Progressives Congress (APC)- led Federal Government was subtly blackmailing the Presidential Election Tribunal so as to get favourable judgment.
It said that despite Lai Mohammed’s effort to arm-twist the Tribunal and divert its attention from facts already presented before it, it is common knowledge that its candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, clearly won the February 25 election.
Insisting that the APC candidate was wrongly declared the winner of the polls, PDP said that facts already presented at the Tribunal cannot be controverted by APC.
While calling on Lai Mohammed and the APC to allow the Tribunal do its job freely, PDP described as subjudice, claims by the Minister of Information and Culture that the opposition lost the election.
In a statement signed by its NationalPublicitySecretary, Debo Ologunagba, PDP said Lai Mohammed’s efforts were “yet another in the series of attempts by the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government to bully and blackmail the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.”
“Nigerians are invited to note that Lai Mohammed’s comment is coming after President Muhammadu Buhari made similar subjudice comment in his widely condemned attempt to justify the rigging of the Presidential election, which case is pending before the Tribunal.
“It is indeed appalling that Lai Mohammed could attempt to defend the outcome of a fraudulently conducted election which has been adjudged as the worst in the history of elections in Nigeria and which has attracted nationwide and international outrage against the Buhari administration.
“By stating that President Buhari deserved “accolades” for conducting a globally condemned Presidential election and describing well-meaning Nigerians as “shameless sore losers”, Lai Mohammed has further confirmed the complicity of the Buhari administration, in which he serves as a mouthpiece, in one of the most reprehensible election scams in the history of democracy.
“The PDP is, however, not surprised that Lai Mohammed will continue in the trajectory of the Buhari-led APC administration, which is notorious for lying, deceit, and false.
“Nigerians are aware that by the authentic results obtained from the Polling Units, Atiku Abubakar and not the APC candidate met all the conditions stipulated for the winning of Presidential election; the reason the compromised Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) refused to transmit directly and announce results as obtained from the Polling Units as required by law.
“The PDP, for the umpteenth time, cautions the APC and the Buhari-led Federal Executive against its furtive attempts to bully the judiciary in the handling of the Presidential election petitions pending before the Tribunal.
“The facts of the rigging of the February 25, 2023, Presidential election are well known to Nigerians, and the PDP will not relent until it reclaims its mandate at the Tribunal”, the statement further read.
