Press Statement
…Cautions Against Tampering Of Evidence
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) raises alarm over the undue delay by
the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal to release the record of its
widely criticized judgment to enable the party and its Presidential
candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to promptly file an appeal to upturn
the judgment at the Supreme Court.
Our party and millions of supporters across the country believe that the
delay is a calculated attempt by some quarters to frustrate our appeal
at the Supreme Court, where Nigerians have expressed confidence to get
justice as well as restore the integrity of our judiciary, which has
been eroded by the Tribunal.
It is instructive to state that the Court of Appeal is aware that our
party and candidate have mandatory 14 days to appeal to the Supreme
Court, yet it is delaying in releasing a judgment that was read for nine
hours and which it wants the public to believe it actually wrote.
Our party fears that this development is lending credence to suspicion
in the public space that the judgment is being tampered with and
altered, in the name of correcting errors, knowing that there is no way
the verdicts can stand the scrutiny of the Supreme Court.
We also hope there is no link between the circumstances surrounding this
delay and the boasts by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji
Lai Mohammed, speaking for the Buhari Presidency, as well as the
National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams
Oshiomhole, that justice will not be served to the PDP and our
Presidential candidate at the Supreme Court.
The PDP had always alerted Nigerians of the relentless efforts by the
APC to manipulate processes and we are happy that our party and
Nigerians in general, have the full video and audio recording of the
judgment and we will not hesitate to expose any underhand act by
anybody.
The PDP therefore demands the immediate release of the record of
judgment as delivered by the Tribunal without any form of alterations.
Signed:
Kola Ologbondiyan
National Publicity Secretary
