DAILY POST
One of the founding members of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Mr Osita Okechukwu has stated that as a Buharist that had experienced the pain of losing post-election litigations, he fully understands the grief of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Labour Party, LP, and Allied Peoples Movement, APM, members over the outcome of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC)’s judgment.
Okechukwu, who spoke to journalists in Abuja in reaction to the judgment, noted that although the main opposition PDP had bright chances of bouncing back through the 2023 presidential election, the political greed of the party’s candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, denied the party victory.
The Tribunal judgement has so far gone in favour of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Okechukwu noted that while he sympathises with PDP, LP and APM, the petitioners, particularly supporters of the PDP and “the LP should not blame the PEPC but His Excellency, Alhaji Atiku Abubukar, whose hubris and greed combined to deny them victory.”
He also noted that Atiku’s failure to rise to the golden opportunity and play as a statesman by throwing support for his erstwhile running mate Peter Obi or any other Southern presidential candidate divided the opposition party, adding, “Atiku dealt PDP a huge blow from which it might be difficult to recover.”
He dismissed claims by the petitioners that alleged irregularities in the conduct of the election, Tinubu’s qualification, as well as the failure to electronically transmit results in real time were fatal to the respondents’ case.
“Those intricate webs could have been resolved if Atiku had obeyed the zoning convention, supported Peter Obi or any other Southern presidential candidate it could been simply an all southern bout. The Wike masquerade couldn’t have emerged. That would have meant that the bulk of votes he garnered could have been credited to PDP.
“Atiku divided PDP’s votes irreparably, all the votes Labour Party garnered were from the party’s stronghold, minus voted warehoused by the former Vice President who naively forgot that northern voters are one of the most sophisticated in the country, but believed that northern electorate would behave like children in a dormitory waiting for directives on how to vote,” he declared.
Okechukwu, who is also the Director General of Voice of Nigeria (DG, VON), remarked that President Tinubu deserves accolades for rescuing the zoning convention which guarantees equity, and natural justice between the north and south.
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