UPDATED: Atiku expresses doubts about judiciary

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, on Thursday, vowed to challenge the outcome of the just-concluded election but also expressed doubts about the Nigerian judiciary.

Atiku spoke publicly on the election for the first time in Abuja after he was defeated by the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, in Saturday’s election.

Mr Tinubu, according to the results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) early Wednesday, won the election with 8.8 million votes.

Atiku came second behind Mr Tinubu with 6.7 million votes while the Labour Party (LP) candidate, Peter Obi, who scored 6.1 million, came third in the election.

The two opposition candidates described the election as flawed and vowed to challenge the outcomes in court at separate press conferences in Abuja on Thursday.

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Responding to a question, Atiku said he had doubts if the judiciary was still credible as when he got judgements against the sitting President in 2007.

Atiku, who was then the vice-president, said he fought the President, then Olusegun Obasanjo, in court and won 11 times right from the High Court to the Supreme Court without seeing a judge.

“I took my boss the (then) President (Olusegun Obasanjo) to court eleven times from the trial court up to the Supreme Court.”

The former vice president who said he could swear by the Holy Quoran that he never had to see any judge defeat his then-boss, expressed doubt if the judiciary was still as credible.

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“I swear, I never saw any judge, yet I got a judgement against a sitting President. Do you think it is possible today to do it? Let us tell ourselves the truth. So, I cannot say whether it is the same judiciary or not until I test them,” he said.

When asked what he would do if he did not get a favourable judgement from the court in his challenge of the outcome of the presidential election, Atiku said: “What will I do? I will appeal to God.”

With Atiku’s displeasure over the outcome of the presidential election, his party is expected to lodge a petition at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal that is already open in Abuja.

The law provides that a candidate dissatisfied with an election outcome is required to file their complaint at the tribunal within 45 days from the date of the announcement of results.