The leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the two opposition parties—the Peoples Democratic Party (APC) and the Labour Party (LP)—have expressed confidence that they will secure victory as the Supreme Court delivers judgement on the February 25 presidential election today.
The PDP and the LP are challenging the declaration of President Bola Tinubu of the APC as the winner of the poll.
The Presidential Election Petitions Court had in September dismissed their petitions against Tinubu.
Displeased, the two major opposition parties and their candidates, Atiku Abubakar (PDP) and Peter Obi (LP), approached the Supreme Court seeking to overturn Tinubu’s victory.
The apex court heard the cases on Monday, and on Wednesday, it announced that judgement would be delivered today, Thursday.
The Supreme Court’s Director of Information, Dr. Festus Akande, disclosed that “today has been fixed for judgement on the appeals brought by Atiku and Peter Obi.”
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Reacting to the announcement, each of the three parties expressed optimism that the verdict would go their way.
The APC Director of Publicity, Bala Ibrahim, said the apex court would affirm Tinubu’s victory, given the evidence before the court.
He said, “Certainly, we are still sure of victory. In fact, our optimism is even stronger now because all the facts presented that day were in our favour. We are very confident in the integrity of the justices of the Supreme Court, and we have no doubt in our minds that there is nothing to give us any iota of doubt with regards to getting justice today, Thursday.”
But the National Legal Adviser of LP, Kehinde Edun, disagreed, saying their candidate, Obi, would emerge victorious.
Edun said,We are expecting victory. We have presented our case before the court, and even at the Court of Appeal, we have tabled fresh facts. Don’t mind all these talks about how the law cannot accommodate fresh evidence. Which law says that?
“If something has happened and you want justice, if there is still time, we will put in everything we want to add. So, we are confident we will get victory for Nigerians and the Labour Party.”
On his part, the PDP Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Ibrahim Abdullahi, urged the Supreme Court to see beyond narrow considerations in its judgement.
He said, “We are appealing to their conscience to see beyond the narrow considerations that have characterized the way the judiciary has acted in recent times. That is approbating and reprobating at the same time. It is important to know that there is a country that we are bequeathing to our children and grandchildren yet unborn.
“If we have decided to say the crop office comes with a fraudulent judgement that we have seen lately and give that kind of priority over the expectations that the country has on them, then it will be unfortunate.”
