ATIKU HEADS TO SUPREME COURT, SAYS RULING IS A RAPE OF DEMOCRACY

Atiku Abubakar

  Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has described  the ruling of the Presidential Election Petition Appeal Court as a rape of Nigeria's democracy, vowing to go to the Supreme Court to have the decision upturned.

In a Press statement issued after the tribunal ruling through his media aide Dr. Adewole Akande, Atiku said the future of Nigeria and its democracy remains imperiled.

 According to Atiku "In April of last year, Nigerians were buoyed with the prospects of going to the polls to choose, of their free will, a new set of leaders, including a new president, to pilot their affairs for another 4 (four) years. In April of last year, that promise of hope and restoration was broken."

 "In an atmosphere fraught with fraud, intimidation and outright illegality, a series of events were foisted upon us culminating in the charade called “elections” on the 14th and 21st of April 2007, respectively. These so called “elections” have been adjudged by all, far and near, local or foreign, to be the worst elections ever conducted on the face of planet Earth. The elections were so incurably bad that even those “selected” under this subversive fraud have freely admitted on record that the process was hopelessly flawed."

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 "Those who orchestrated and perpetrated this fraud on the Nigerian people did so with the belief that, once firmly entrenched in their illegally acquired offices, they could foist upon us all a fait accompli and silence our collective voices. But they were wrong!"

 "All my adult life, I have always believed and held sacred the principle that there is no alternative to democracy: the enthronement of the will of the people as freely expressed in periodically conducted free and fair elections. But democracy is not about elections alone. There is none more important than the role of the judiciary and the rule of law."

 "We have seen how election disputes have degenerated into anarchy and near civil war in several countries in Africa. We have seen how denying people the right to freely choose their own leaders has resulted in the explosion of pent up frustrations and anger and, sometimes violence, leading to the senseless loss of lives and destruction of property."

 "As a law abiding, people-first committed democrat, the standard bearer of an equally democratic, people oriented and law abiding political party and having faith in the strength, courage and ability of the Nigerian judiciary to dispense justice fairly and without bias, we have taken the one and only route we have always taken in the face of manifest illegality, injustice and subversion of the will of the people: we have gone to court."

 "Today, in an epochal and far reaching judgment, the Presidential Elections Petitions Tribunal has, in its own wisdom, decided that the charade called “elections” held in April of last year was a fair representation of the free will of the Nigerian people."

 "Today’s judgment is not a decision against Atiku Abubakar or the Action Congress. No! It is the peace loving people of Nigeria who have lost today. In my own humble opinion, the people of Nigeria have had their voices silenced again. Justice has not been done and the rape of our young democracy has been sustained. The future of constitutional democracy and free and fair elections in Nigeria, nay, Africa, remains imperiled and we must redouble our efforts at vigilance."

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 "Yet, the rule of law must prevail. Right will, one day, prevail over wrong. I remain unshaken and steadfast in my long held belief that there is no alternative to this our democracy. In fact, today’s judgment revalidated this and I am confident still that, even though it may sometimes appear to be a long and tortuous path, there is no alternative to recourse to our courts to seek redress for electoral fraud. Consequently, I have instructed my team of lawyers to compile the records of today’s proceedings and to, immediately, file an appeal at the Supreme Court of Nigeria to overturn this judgment."

 "I must thank a dynamic, courageous and free and vibrant press for its steadfastness and never-shaking commitment to Project Nigeria. You must redouble your efforts at vigilance. Most importantly, however, I must thank the long suffering ordinary people of our dear country who have remained patient, enduring and peace loving even in the face of the subversion of their free will and the deprivation of their God ordained rights. Your day of vindication will yet come."

 "Today, the battle is lost, but the war remains. There is still a long winding road ahead of us in the long journey to rebuild Nigeria. There are many more tribulations awaiting us down the road. But go down this road, we must. We must rebuild our politics, our economy and our society. We must redefine what it means to be a Nigerian. Every Nigerian of voting age must have his voice heard and his vote counted, because, as I have said before, there is no alternative to democracy."