PEPC: Don’t Suffocate Judiciary, Group Warns Tinubu’s Lawyer

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

Civil society organization(CSO), the Coalition for the Protection of Democracy (COPDEM), has warned the Lead Counsel of President Bola Tinubu at the  Presidential Election Court (PEPC), Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), to  stop harassing the judiciary.

The group spoke amidst criticisms that greeted the position of Olanipekun at the PEPC where he submitted that there could be anarchy in Nigeria if the election petition court nullified Tinubu’s victory.

Tinubu had asked the presidential election tribunal to dismiss the petition filed by Labout Party (LP) seeking to nullify his victory on the grounds that he did not secure 25 per cent of the lawful votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Tinubu, through Olanipekun,  in a final written address to the tribunal against the petition, said the FCT is the 37th state for electoral purposes and any other interpretation would “lead to absurdity, chaos, anarchy and alteration of the very intention of the legislature.”

But COPDEM, at a press conference in Abuja yesterday, described Olanipekun’s submission as a threat to the judiciary.

The group’s Spokesperson, Danjuma Garba Musa, who read the speech, alleged that Tinubu’s counsel’s submission was capable of intimidating the justices of the Appeal Court, handling the case.

COPDEM said: “Since the inception of the incumbent APC-led government, inaugurated 29th May 2023, the state of our nation’s democracy is not at its best and far from being commendable.

“The threat to the judiciary and the rule of law is a major concern in addition to the increasing public outcry over the highhanded removal of subsidy that  has plunged more Nigerians into poverty.

 “Any threat  to the judiciary is a threat to democracy. COPDEM believes in the rule of law and justice. Justice is the ultimate pillar of any democracy: it must be done and be seen to done.

“COPDEM is in support and advocates for the absolute independence and integrity of the judiciary as fundamental to the success of our democracy and for the peace and unity of Nigeria as a nation.

“It is a threat to the judiciary and rule of law for a senior advocate of Nigeria to

presume and invoke anarchy in Nigeria if the victory of his client Bola Ahmed

Tinubu is judiciously overturned by the PEPT before the whole world. The requirement of 25 per cent in the FCT is in the Nigerian constitution not a party constitution.

“Upholding the provisions of the constitution is a fundamental democratic ideal while its interpretation and determination for all intents are the sole mandates of the judiciary. Notably, such insinuations are threats to the peace and unity of Nigeria and therefore must be condemned and withdrawn.”

The group therefore, called on “all Nigerian patriots, democrats and the legal profession to see this as a threat to the judiciary as an institution and our democracy.”

It also urged President Bola Tinubu to dissociate himself from such antidemocratic aberrations in line with his commitment to democracy and to express his readiness to accept the verdict of the court whether it is for him or  against him and to challenge same in accordance with the rule of law.

The group clarified that it was not recruited by any party, person or personal interests.

It said: “It is our patriotism and the love of our dear nation. We are a pro-democratic and nonpartisan association.”