Court Ruling Against ADC Leadership Engineered By APC – Obi
The Presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Peter Obi has accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of engineering the court ruling against the leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and all the actions it has taken.
“This is unsettling and surprising,” Obi said in a statement issued on Thursday.
“I do not challenge the ruling of the court. The court of law is constituted to determine disputes according to the law. My concern is that three months before election, it is in the public interest to have certainty. It is not good to have too many uncertainties about candidates and parties a few weeks before a presidential election.
“This instability is obviously engineered by the ruling party, just as they have done against me in the Labour Party and continue to do so to close down civic space for a robust campaign. It is also from the same rulebook that manufactures violence against us in our campaigns.
“One mark of democracy is that at all times, it is voters and not courts that choose leaders. I trust in the judiciary. As a public officer, I have shown deep respect for the judiciary. I appeal that we protect the integrity of democracy by not undermining the free and fair choice of candidates.
“The sustenance of democracy in Nigeria, in the midst of encroaching military rule in West Africa, should strengthen our resolve to protect opposition politics and not stamp out opposition parties. It is because of the importance of opposition to the sustenance of democracy that I have always promised that, as President, I will take a special interest in ensuring opposition parties are stable and thriving, and that opposition candidates are not persecuted out of electoral contests.
“This is a time to strengthen our democracy by allowing the opposition to thrive,” he said.
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