HURIWA, in a statement issued by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, has labeled the verdict as a travesty of justice and issued a caution that it might serve as a catalyst for potential future outbreaks of violence.
Onwubiko said, “The Supreme Court of Nigeria did not perform the unthinkable, neither did the conservative and traditionalist justices of the apex court perform any miracle by upstaging or invalidating the election of the incumbent President and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria because it did what most critics and civil rights leaders already predicted in its ruling when it controversially and incredibly held that the appeal filed by the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, lacked merit.
“The court known for always upholding elections of all the civilian presidents whose elections have been contested before them since 1979, also dismissed Mr Peter Obi’s petition from the Labour Party just as the Supreme Court by refusing to admit fresh evidence from Atiku Abubakar that shows clearly that President Tinubu as the Presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress, had presented a dud and fake certificate of Chicago State University which the US-based educational faculty denied knowing about it before a US Court, has conveyed the wrong message that institutionally, forging academic certificates doesn’t matter to the court system in Nigeria.
“The Atiku Abubakar’s team that appeared in that US Court were also given evidence to show that the secondary school that Tinubu claimed to have graduated in 1970 in Lagos state was only established in 1974.
“This Supreme Court’s twin distorted and crime-ridden judgment is a final testament to the fact that it is of no moment or consequences if candidates for election present fake certificates provided they can muster the capacity to manipulate the electoral process and get into the office before the determination of any litigation challenging their crooked electoral victory or have enough dollar denominated cash to bribe judges..."
