The National Chairman of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Dr. Boniface Aniebonam has said that anybody talking the Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 23 Presidential election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar into not going to the election petition tribunal to pursue his case is not a patriotic citizen of Nigeria.
Aniebonam who was speaking in an interview with our correspondent in Lagos recently wondered why people should be making advances to Atiku not to follow up his matter at the tribunal adding that Nigerians still need to strengthen the democracy of the country otherwise it becomes a way of life.
In his words,” Why will I discourage Atiku when I am telling you that we are in court to reclaim our mandate? Any person telling Atiku not to go court, that person is not patriotic because we still need to strengthen the democracy of our country otherwise it becomes a way of life. In any case, Oshiomhole for instance, picked up his governorship seat through the court, Peter Obi the same and so many others. So, why are you asking Atiku not to do so?
“If Atiku believes he has a case to pursue, let him pursue his case and I think he has been quiet in following his matter, he is not making so much noise about that because why are you making noise when you know that you should present your paper to court and the court will look at that and it is all over.
“But why will people ask Atiku not to go to court? Are they saying that to deepen democracy or for what? You cannot get peace when you have not ensured justice. Of course, Mr. President has been in court three times, so, what is this discuss. As for me, the more we keep saying that Atiku should not go to court; it means we know that something went wrong”.
On insinuations in many quarters that by approaching the tribunal which had been highly compromised by the Presidency, Atiku would be wasting his time as he would not get anything out of it, Aniebonam who is also the founder of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) quipped,” Then, why did we get to that level? It is not right. Nothing suggests that Atiku will win his case at the tribunal and nothing suggests that he will loose and that is why the court is there. When the matter comes, they resolve it; it is not a matter of one person. But even if Atiku loses at the end of the day, the document will be kept somewhere for reference. There might be something that will fall out of the case and that in itself will also advance the course of Nigeria.
“But what I want to tell you in the course of this discussion is that the court is there, there is hope for Nigeria. Secondly, at the appropriate time, God will intervene in all this nonsense that is happening in our country and that is why I am saying that Mr. President should be decisive and provide leadership for this country. Laws must be applied universally, that is how to get a good society”.
It will be recalled that many individuals and groups have called on Alhaji Atiku Abubakar not to challenge the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari in the February 23, 2019 Presidential election at the tribunal and to accept defeat and work with the President to take Nigeria to a greater height, a call Atiku had since rejected.
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