Supreme Court: Atiku group frowns at delay in Presidential Elections Appeal Panel composition

Democracy Vanguard of Nigeria in Diaspora (DVND), an ally to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate for the 2019 general elections, Atiku Abubakar, has expressed concerns over the delay in constituting the seven-man Presidential Elections Appeal Panel.

The former vice-president’s men made known their feeling in a statement jointly signed by the Director Outreach, North America Coordinator and President of DVND, Leonard Ishiguzo, Yakubu Mohammad and Timothy Sule, respectively.

Atiku and the PDP, recently filed a 66-point of submission at the Supreme Court, challenging the judgment of Presidential Election Petition Tribunal led by Justice Mohammed Garba.

Miffed by the failure of the relevant authority to constitute the panel, the group alleged unholy alliance between the CJN and President Muhammadu Buhari, claiming as responsible for the delay, just as it described it as dangerous for Nigeria’s democracy.

“Reports and indications hovering in the air is that President Buhari and his train are doing everything possible, abusing the power of the office of the president to influence Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad into ‘technically delaying the constitution of the seven-man justices to preside over the case. The purpose is self-defeating.

“There are also alternative plans to jettison the historical precedents of the courts by choosing the judges according to positioning in the court to a style of staccato nomination by determining judges who will be favourable to the whims and caprices of Mr. Buhari and the APC.

“Nigeria is greater and more important than Mr President and his cabal. We call on the good people of Nigeria, the international community and the African Union to ensure that the independence of the judiciary must remain sacrosanct and inalienable. To do otherwise is to court anarchy and chaos.

“A credible, clear, crystal, conforming situation that allows the Supreme Court to function without any abysmal interference from the executive will foster law and order and will bring back the trust and confidence Nigerians have in the judiciary,” the statement read.

The group also commended Atiku Abubakar for shunning violence after the poll, stressing that his resolve to seek redress through the judiciary shows that the PDP candidate is a true democrat who loves his country than his personal ambition.

“We want to applaud Atiku Abubakar who deserves encompassing encomium for successfully stopping his electors and voters from taking the laws into their hands, which demonstrates his strong democratic principles and his belief in the judiciary.

“This is a constant, credible and compelling evidence that Atiku Abubakar is one of the most endearing and qualified candidate in the election.

“So much to say that Nigeria is obfuscating and confiscated by the Buhari dictatorship whose stock-in-trade is willful disobedience to the court orders and the harassment of Judges who they feel will deliver justice without fear or favour,” the statement read.