The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) led Federal Government of attempting to blackmail election petition tribunals, by making comments on the conduct and outcome of the 2023 presidential election.
The party in a statement issued by the National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, described as subjudice, the claims by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, that the opposition lost the election.
PDP noted that this came a few days after President Muhammadu Buhari made a similar comment, and said they are attempts by the APC- led federal executive to bully and blackmail the Presidential Election Petition 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 swindles in the history of democracy,” the party said.
It however expressed surprise that Alhaji Mohammed would continue to defend the rigging that characterised the election, stating that authentic results obtained from the polling units showed that the PDP candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and not the APC candidate met all the conditions stipulated for the winning of presidential election.
The party warned that APC and the Buhari ministers against “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.”
(New Telegraph)
