Atiku hails Osun election tribunal’s verdict, says judiciary truly defender of democracy

The Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 elections, Atiku Abubakar has described the judiciary as truly the defender of Nigeria’s democracy.

Atiku Abubakar made the assertion while responding to the verdict of the Osun State Governorship Election Tribunal, which on Friday declared PDP candidate, Sen. Ademola Adeleke as winner of the Sept. 22 governorship election in Osun.

Abubakar, in a statement issued by his Media Aide, Mr Paul Ibe on Friday in Abuja, said that the judgment indicated that indeed the judiciary was the last refuge for the common man.

The Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja had on Friday declared Adeleke winner.

The three-member panel said during its ruling that the re-run election that held on Sept. 27, 2018, was illegal.

The tribunal, therefore, deducted the votes scored by the APC candidate, Gboyega Oyetola, in the rerun after declaring the re-run illegal.

The tribunal said Adeleke won the election at the first ballot on Sept. 22 and the re-run that INEC devised to reach a final conclusion a week later was illegal.

“The declaration of Oyetola is null and void,” the tribunal ruled in a majority decision with one member dissenting

Abubakar added that it was also an indication that in truth, “those who are aggrieved and resolved to maintain the peace, have been vindicated.’’

He congratulated Adeleke, the PDP and men and women of goodwill in Osun, who according to him did not waver in their commitment to retrieve their mandate.

“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy has come for the people of Osun,” he said.

Abubakar also commended the courage of the judiciary and its resilience even in the face of strenuous efforts to undermine and intimidate it.

According to the former Vice President, the decision of the judiciary on the Osun governorship election is phenomenal in view of the culture of inconclusive elections by INEC in this season.

The judgment has rekindled hope and confidence that those whose mandate had been tampered with or denied could look forward to justice being done to them.

He urged the judiciary to remain steadfast as the eyes of all Nigerians and indeed the whole world were on them to help ensure that democracy in Nigeria was put on a solid foundation.