Chuks Okocha in Abuja
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday commended the Supreme Court for upholding the wishes of the people who voted for Governors Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State; Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State; Samuel Ortom of Benue State; and Ahmad Fintiri of Adamawa State.
The party, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the governors won the elections in their respective states and any disposition to the contrary would have further diminished the hard earned image of the highest court of the land as Nigerians know that the PDP won in those states.
The opposition party, however, insisted that the judgement on the four states would not in anyway sway it to abandon or even diminish the nationwide agitation for a judicial review and reversal of the miscarriage of justice by the court in its judgement on Imo State governorship election.
PDP noted that by upholding the Sokoto, Bauchi, Benue and Adamawa elections, the Supreme Court has shown that it could still be trusted to assert its independence and could further redeem its image by immediately reversing its alleged defective and widely condemned judgement on Imo State.
The party pointed out that Nigerians would still be agitated and the image as well as public confidence on the Supreme Court would still not be fully redeemed until the court summons the expected courage to review and reverse itself on the Imo State ruling in line with the consensus already expressed by citizens across board.
“This is because the miscarriage of justice in Imo State judgement is glaring, given the established fact that the Supreme Court conjured strange figures as votes and donated same to the APC and its candidate, Senator Hope Uzodimma, and used the unfounded figure as basis to declare a party that came fourth as winner of the election.
“What is most embarrassing is that in allocating the conjured figures to the APC, the Supreme Court became caught in a web, as total number of votes suddenly jumped to 950,952, over and above INEC’s 823,743 official number of accredited voters for the election,”the party lamented.
The PDP insisted that only a judicial review would guarantee justice in this matter as the PDP, the people of Imo State and Nigerians at large were not ready to allow the Supreme Court to impose a governor other than the person elected by the people at the poll.
In congratulating Tambuwal, Ortom, Fintiri and Mohammed, the party urged them to continue in the path of good governance for which they were elected in line with the manifesto and vision of PDP.
It also called on all PDP elected and appointed officials as well as members, teeming supporters and Nigerians across board to continue the demand for a judicial review on Imo State, adding that the PDP would continue to toe that path until justice is seen to have been done.
Meanwhile, PDP Governors’ Forum has congratulated four of its members over the landslide victory recorded on the various post-election petition cases at the country’s Supreme Court.
The forum, in a statement by its Director General, Osaro Onaiwu, said apex court has by its judgments affirmed the wishes of the people who not only voted but defended their votes and the mandates they gave the governors during the gubernatorial election of March 2019.
The statement added that the governors should see this as a motivation to do more in delivering democratic dividends to the people who have not only put their hopes on them but have given them their wholehearted trust and undiluted loyalty even in the face of provocation and intimidation from the powers that be.
The statement stated that the apex court verdicts did not come as a surprise because of the massive support the quartets received from the people and residents of Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue and Sokoto states as the case may be during the March 9, 2019 governorship elections.
The forum said the affirmation of the mandates cleared the path for the governors to settle down in the enormous tasks of taking their states to greater heights without any further distractions.
It described the victories as a testimony to the transparent, credible, democratic, free and fair election process that produced them and the other PDP governors.
The statement assured the governors of the forum’s unflinching support and loyalty as they continue to serve their various states with integrity, dedication and uncommon patriotism.
”These are leaders who put the interests of their people above personal advantage and they deserve to be so acknowledged in all spheres of their endeavours.
”These are leaders who perfectly fit into the category of selfless politicians and deserve the people’s supports to excel,” the forum said.
Earlier in a unanimous judgement delivered yesterday, the Supreme Court in its ruling by a seven-man panel led by Justice Olabode Rhodes-Vivour, while upholding the election of Ortom, dismissed the appeal by Emmanuel Jime, who contested as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Justice Sylvester Ngwuta, who read the lead judgment, held that the appellants (Jime and APC) failed to present any cogent reason to move the court to tamper with the concurrent decisions of the two lower courts, which both upheld Ortom’s election.
