Former Nigerian Vice President and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has expressed concern over the delay in receiving a copy of the judgment delivered by the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) on 25 September 2019 – three days after the ruling.
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Atiku, who is waiting to receive certified copies of the ruling, has 14 days to file his appeal to the Supreme Court on the judgment.
His Special Assistant on Public Communications, Phrank Shaibu, claimed that the PEPC’s delay in making available a Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgment undermines Atiku’s bid for justice and the wider search for justice by 200 million Nigerians.
Shaibu also pointed out that the court previously struck out the testimonies of some of Atiku’s witnesses at the court of first instance because they were filed out of time, while simultaneously imposing a time limit on the Supreme Court submission.
Shaibu has demanded an explanation as to why the PEPC did not wait until the next week to deliver the judgment thereby meeting the legal deadline, instead of rushing the delivery of a judgment that was still undergoing revisions.
“The PEPC is not oblivious that three precious days of the 14-day limit for parties to file their processes at the highest court have been wasted by the Appeal Court.
“We wish to remind the PEPC that it struck out the testimonies of some of the witnesses of Atiku during the litigation at the court of first instance because their statements on oath were filed out of time.
“And now, from all intents and purposes, the same court wants to have Atiku and PDP’s appeal to the Supreme Court disqualified by the reason of time deadline.
“Does the PEPC not understand that the lawyers representing Atiku/PDP need to digest the judgment as contained in the CTC, which represents the authentic pronouncements made in court on Wednesday, in order to formulate its case for filing?” Shaibu queried.
Speaking further, Shuaibu said that there can be no justification for the PEPC not making available the CTC of its judgment for Atiku to continue with his quest on behalf of over 200 million Nigerians for substantial justice as opposed to the judgment rendered by the PEPC.
“It is curious that the same PEPC that claimed that the judgment was ready as at the time it was delivered on Wednesday is still grappling with typos and errors, according to available information.
“Why did the PEPC not wait till next week to deliver the judgment as it would still have met the legal deadline instead of rushing to render a judgment which text is still undergoing panel beating?”
“It is anti-democratic of the court to steal, already at the last count, 3 precious days out of the 14-day time limit for Atiku to file his processes at the Supreme Court. The lost time would never be recovered”, he said.
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