The All Progressives Congress, APC, on Monday, condemned the mass protest by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, over the Supreme Court which declared Hope Uzodinma as governor of Imo State.
APC said the protest by PDP leaders has shown their lack of decorum in the political space, which is a threat to Nigeria’s “nascent democracy.”
In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, the ruling party stated that PDP was determined to overheat Nigeria’s polity.
The statement reads: “APC finds the indecorous and contemptuous actions and remarks by the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) worrisome.
“The disgraceful and senseless protest embarked upon by the opposition party is being done with the sole purpose of dragging the apex Court of our land, and indeed our great country into odium and scorn before the international community.
“We also view the irascible actions and irresponsible remarks by the PDP as a calculated attempt to overheat the polity. PDP has become a present threat to our peaceful coexistence.
“For the avoidance of doubt, it is important to put the issues PDP is reacting to in context.
“On January 14, 2020 the Supreme Court delivered a bold and very remarkable Judgment in the case involving the Governorship election of Imo State. Like all judicial contests, there was a winner and there was a loser. The crux of the decision was that the PDP candidate (who had been adjudged to have been wrongfully declared the winner by the Resident Electoral Commissioner of Imo State) was removed by the apex Court and Sen. Hope Uzodinma of our party was declared the rightful winner of the election.
“The Court directed the Independent National Electoral Commission to issue a Certificate of Return to Sen. Hope Uzodinma and that he should be sworn in as the Governor of Imo State. This decision by the apex Court was not made lightly but was, in fact, based on the facts presented by the Parties and the law canvassed before it by their respective Counsel. How else should a Court of law determine a case before it? Based on innuendos, conjecture, suspicions and conspiracy theories? Certainly not.
“Since then, the PDP has issued press statements and made series of wild and unsubstantiated allegations as well as casting aspersion at the Court for its decision. We know that the PDP will find justice served by our Courts very hard to swallow because it had become accustomed to crooked manipulation of due process to its benefit and at the expense of the entire system. Weaning it from this bad modus operandi has proven difficult if not impossible. Every time the PDP loses in Court, it declares the decision suspect and our democracy on life support.
“For the Records, APC, through no fault of ours, even as the ruling party, has suffered monumental losses in our Courts in respect of elections conducted in 2019. Let us start with Rivers State where the party was deprived an opportunity to even field any candidate. Never before had such an occurrence been experienced in our political history. What many do not appreciate is that the decision that led to this state of affairs was itself the first of its kind in our history since 1960. The Court determined that a case which, in every material particular, arose in respect of congresses which are held before elections, constituted a pre-election matter and consequently was said to have contaminated the legal ability of the party to even nominate candidates for the general election. As a result, the PDP, who was the sole beneficiary of this decision, had a clear run for all the elective offices in Rivers State. APC did not produce a Governorship candidate as well as candidates for the 3 (Three) Senatorial seats, 11 (Eleven) House of Representative seats and 32 (Thirty-Two) State House of Assembly seats. In essence, APC lost out in 46 elective positions even before the starter pistol was fired! We took it in our stride.”
