Atiku slammed for ‘blackmailing’ judiciary
President Bola Tinubu has berated opposition candidate in the February 2023 presidential poll Atiku Abubakar, warning him to desist from ‘blackmailing’ the judiciary. Dele Alake, the president’s special adviser on media and special duties, in a press release, said Atiku’s allegation against Tinubu “offend basic logic and rational thinking.”
Alake was reacting to a statement by Atiku’s aide Paul Ibe, who accused President Tinubu of “intimidating” judges in order to get a favourable response at the presidential election tribunal. Ibe cited the 2019 indictment of some judges and the removal of a former chief justice of Nigeria Tanko Muhammed as instances of his claims against the ruling party.
Tinubu’s team however described the allegation “as another round of inanities.”
He added, “It is obvious that having been thoroughly defeated by the All Progressives Congress and now President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the former Vice President has not fully recovered from the shock of defeat, hence the current attempt to mischievously rake up another round of inanities that offend basic logic and rational thinking.
“In the ill-thought out and illogical statement, Alhaji Atiku accused the current administration of the governing APC of plotting to undermine the judiciary without providing any shred of evidence. Apart from innuendos, insinuations and outright lies contained in the said press statement, the former Vice President Atiku didn’t put forward any convincing argument to support his claims on how the President Tinubu-led administration and APC sought to undercut, undermine and compromise the judiciary.
“If the former Vice President believes in democracy and the sanctity of the Judiciary, as claimed, he would not engage in making spurious and wild allegations aimed at disparaging and discrediting an important arm of government that should serve as the bulwark for our democracy.
“He shamelessly resorted to this cheap attempt to intimidate and blackmail the Judiciary even when he is party to a case before the Presidential Election Petition Court.
“Let it be said that when it comes to matters of fighting for democracy and democratic ideals, rule of law and independence of Judiciary in Nigeria, President Bola Tinubu stands shoulder above Atiku Abubakar. When President Tinubu was leading the charge against the emasculation of the judiciary and promoting the sanctity of rule of law as the building block for good governance as Governor of Lagos State between 1999-2007, under a PDP central government, Alhaji Atiku was nowhere to be found.”
