Tinubu’s ‘anarchy’ threat targeted at intimidating judiciary- PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday claimed that President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) lawyer’s anarchy comment in a letter to the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) was a preemptive move to intimidate the country’s judiciary.

Debo Ologunagba, PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, argued in a statement on Monday that the lawyers’ statement in the written address is subversive, an affront to democratic order, and an assault on the nation’s corporate existence.

“It is alarming and disturbing that the APC externalized to the public, their final written address in which they also threatened national peace if the Court upholds the clear provisions of Section 134 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) with regard to the mandatory and statutory requirements for which a Candidate in a Presidential election can be declared the winner,” the statement said.

“The threats, either through Counsel or officials of the APC is calculated to intimidate and harass the Judiciary and indeed Nigerians. The PDP holds that the clear intent of the APC is to blackmail the Court and emasculate the independence of the judiciary to discharge its duties in accordance with the dictates of the law. This action is ostensibly to set the stage to orchestrate violent crisis in various parts of the country with the intention to further blackmail the PEPC,” the statement added.

In a final written address to the petition of the Labour Party (LP) candidate for president, Peter Obi, and his group, the attorneys for the president and vice president, Kashim Shettima, were led by Wole Olanipekun (SAN).

The petitioners are contesting Tinubu’s victory on February 25 and his achievement of the constitutional requirement of receiving 25% of the vote in two-thirds of the nation’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Tinubu and Shettima’s attorneys asked the tribunal to reject the petition of Obi and LP, arguing that any other interpretation would result in chaos and anarchy in the nation because Tinubu received 25% of the legitimate votes cast in the FCT.