- PDP: Ruling Party ‘threatening and piling pressure on the Justices of Supreme Court
- APC: PDP Suffering from ‘Idleness,’ ‘Rejection’… ‘Consider Taking Up Rice Farming.’
The much controversy over recent Supreme Court verdicts continues unabatedly as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asked the apex court to review its judgment on the 2019 presidential election with regards to issues of non-availability of certificate against President Muhammadu Buhari.
PDP spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan who disclosed this at press conference in Abuja that the Party had no option than to seek a review, following the manner with which the APC has conducted itself after the ruling on the Bayelsa State Governorship election which ousted the All Progressives Congress’s candidate.
“Consequently, 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 clearly established against the APC and her presidential candidate,” Ologbondiyan stressed.
But the All Progressives Congress(APC) in a swift reaction says the PDP is acting in a comical manner that is akin to a party that has turned itself into a huge joke with its call for a review of the Supreme Court rulings on presidential and governorship elections in designated States.
The APC which accused the PDP of being jobless fellows at Wadata House said the Buhari administration is seriously addressing issues of agriculture and triggering an agricultural transformation in the country, and that the “PDP should consider going into farming to keep them from being allegedly idle.”
The APC which accordingly urged the PDP to invest its idle time on farming said the Buhari government is currently engaged in more constructive endeavours and would have no time for such joke.
But that response would not deter the PDP. The national publicity secretary of PDP who revealed the decision of the party at a press conference in Abuja, claimed that the APC has been threatening and piling pressure on the justices of the Supreme Court to force a reversal of the judgements on Bayelsa and Zamfara governorship elections.
The Supreme Court had in October last year dismissed the appeal filed by PDP and its presidential candidate, former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, against the re-election of President Buhari.
The apex court had also dismissed the appeals of PDP and the governorship candidates in Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, and Osun States.
He said: “The public space is already awash with reports of how the APC has been threatening and piling pressure on the justices of the Supreme Court to force a reversal of valid judgments already delivered on the Bayelsa and Zamfara governorship elections, where the party (APC) suffered self-inflicted losses.
“Nigerians know that the APC has been going through a haemorrhage since the Supreme Court delivered valid judgments on Bayelsa and Zamfara and as a result, they are no longer interested in the logic of these judgments. They have since thrown caution to the wind to destabilise our nation and destroy our hard-earned democracy, especially the judiciary. The APC-led federal government is leading all forms of battles against the rule of law and constitutionalism,” he said.
Similarly, the APC returned again in its altercation with the PDP. In reaction, the APC described the PDP requests as a “joke on the nation’s political space”.
The ruling party stressed that the requests were borne out of “idleness” and called on the opposition party to consider rice farming as a viable alternative, adding that this would afford them the opportunity to contribute their quota to national development.
In its statement issued by APC’s national publicity secretary, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, the party said that it was not surprised by the latest move, claiming that the PDP had turned itself into a clog in the wheel of Nigeria’s democratic journey.
Issa-Onilu said: “The call by the PDP on the Supreme Court to review its rulings on the presidential and governorship elections in Osun, Kano, Kaduna, and Katsina States, has, once again, exposed the joke the opposition party has turned itself into in our nation‘s political space.
“Never in the history of our democratic journey has a political party made mockery of what a responsible opposition politics entails. The PDP‘s call has once again, reinforced our party‘s belief that the PDP has become a clog in the wheels of our country‘s political evolution.
“For the APC, PDP‘s latest antics is no surprise. Nigerians would 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 PDP to cope for so long outside of power. There is obviously a lot of idleness at the Wadata House Secretariat of the PDP.
“At this period that our government is working hard to ensure food sufficiency in the country, we urge those jobless characters at the Wadata House to seriously consider taking up rice farming. This would make them useful to our country,” he said.
