On Wednesday 6, The Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) ruled over the petitions of Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP).

The Tribunal, after thoroughly examining the evidence presented by both PDP and LP, ruled that Bola Tinubu was the rightful and legally recognised president of Nigeria. The Tribunal had turned down the evidence brought forward by the petitioners, claiming that they were not coded or credible enough to support their claims.

Since the unsurprising turn of events at the court yesterday, there have been remarks made by legal spokespersons related to the presidential candidates, announcing that their clients had instructed them to take up the case to the Supreme Court.

On Thursday, 7, Atiku officially announced on his X (formerly Twitter) account his intention to move his petition to the Supreme Court. He expressed his disappointment about the PEPC result, stating that the court’s decision utterly falls far short of his expectations.

“I refuse to accept the judgement because I believe it is bereft of substantial justice,” he said.

He further voiced his disappointment about INEC’s inefficiency during the presidential elections, which left ‘unenviable precedents.’

“The last presidential election in our country and the way it was managed by the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), left behind unenviable precedents, which I believe the courts have a duty to redress. Our gains in ensuring transparent elections through the deployment of technology was heavily compromised by INEC in the way it managed the last presidential election,” he said.

The former Vice President of Nigeria stood his ground that he would not go down without a fight, and he had instructed his lawyers to appeal to the higher court.

“I have asked my lawyers to activate my constitutionally guaranteed rights of appeal to the higher court, which, in this instance, is the Supreme Court. It is my conviction that the electoral process in Nigeria should be devoid of untidy manipulations and that the outcome of every election should be a perfect reflection of the wishes of the electorate,”

Atiku Abubakar enjoined his supporters to remain steadfast as he shared with the public a lesson he learned from his leader and mentor, Shehu Yar’Adua.

“A losing battle is less important than losing the war. We might have lost a battle yesterday, but the war is well ahead of us,” he said.

He ended the post by placing his hopes in God, saying he shall win the war of restoring confidence in the electoral system.

Ayomitide Adeyinka

Ayomitide Adeyinka is a content writer, crypto journalist and editor with a Bsc in Political Science. He is also an egalitarian.