The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), says threat by lawyers of President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC), addressed in a letter to the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), is a pre-emptive move to intimidate the judiciary.
The party said: “The statement by the lawyers in the said written address, threatening crisis and anarchy in the country in the event of the court ruling that their clients did not meet the constitutionally required 25 per cent votes in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), is subversive, an affront to democratic order and assault on corporate existence of the nation.”
The PDP, in a statement by its national publicity secretary, Debo Ologunagba, declared:
“It is alarming and disturbing that the APC externalised to the public their final written address, in which they also threatened national peace, if the court upholds the clear provisions of Section 134 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), with regard to mandatory and statutory requirements for which a candidate in a presidential election can be declared winner.”
The PDP said the threats, either through counsel for, or officials of the APC, were calculated to intimidate and harass the judiciary and Nigerians.
PDP held that the intent of APC was to blackmail the court and emasculate independence of the judiciary to discharge its duties in accordance with dictates of the law.
It said: “This action is ostensibly to set the stage to orchestrate violent crisis in various parts of the country with the intention to further blackmail the PEPC.
“We ask, why is the APC externalising their final written address to the public? Is the APC being pre-emptive and now seeks to heighten tension, subvert the judicial process and trigger anarchy, having realised the weakness of their case before the PEPC?”
