Showing posts with label Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar. Show all posts

Thursday, September 14, 2023

PEPC Judgement: The Verdict Can Destroy Presidential Democracy In Nigeria

 By Olu Fasan

Last week, I put everything aside to watch the ruling of the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, from start to finish! With rapt attention, I picked up the minutiae of the extremely detailed verdict. But after the 13-hour-long ruling, I was utterly despondent about the future of presidential elections in Nigeria. 

*The 2023 PEPC Judges 

Let me start with two general observations. First, the judges worked to a predetermined answer. Because they couldn’t bring themselves to invalidate the election of a sitting president, unprecedented in Nigeria, they found every reason to affirm Bola Tinubu’s election. Courts of first instance are fact-finding courts that seek to get to the bottom of a matter and do justice. But the PEPC used every conceivable procedural technicality to reject virtually all the facts and witnesses presented by Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar.