October 30, (THEWILL) – Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the 2023 General elections, Atiku Abubakar, on Monday, said he will no longer run for President in future elections, ending decades of attempts to rule Africa’s largest economy.
Atiku stated this while addressing a press conference on national issues in Abuja on Monday.
The former Vice President faulted the Supreme court judgement which affirmed the election victory of President Bola Tinubu.
THEWILL earlier reported that a seven-member panel of Justices of the apex court, led by Inyang Okoro, in a judgement delivered on Thursday, October 26, dismissed the two appeal filed by Atiku and his counterpart in the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, challenging the election of Tinubu.
Atiku had prayed the court to annul the victory of President Tinubu over alleged forgery of diploma certificate of the Chicago State University (CSU), he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). But the apex court rejected his attempt for a fresh deposition of the CSU documents.
However, acknowledging the end of a phase in his political career on Monday, in Abuja, the former Vice President expressed his commitment to strive for political and economic restructuring in Nigeria, primarily led by the younger generation.
Atiku called for reforms of the electoral laws, which encouraged President Tinubu to contest the 2023 elections in Nigeria.
This is just as he proposed key amendments to the constitution and the Electoral Act to address electoral challenges and judicial transparency. He called for a return to the voters’ rightful role in electing leaders, free from the interference of the courts.
Atiku called for electoral reforms including mandatory electronic voting and collation of results, completion of litigation before inauguration and a two-round system for presidential elections to ensure a popular mandate.
He also stressed the importance of verifying candidates’ credentials submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the consequences of submitting contradictory or forged documents.
His words: “If the Supreme Court, which is the highest court in Nigeria, can ignore the cry of Nigerians despite evidences, then Nigeria has lost it and the country is doomed.
“I am absolutely sure that history will vindicate me. The bigger loss is not mine but Nigerians.
“We should make constitutional amendments where we will prevent any court or tribunal from hiding behind technicalities to confirm electoral hates and undermine the will of the people.
“Our democracy must mean something. It must be substantive, and above all it must be done through free, fair and transparent elections, and must respect the will of the people.
“We must make electoral voting and collation of results mandatory. We don’t want to see any human being handling our results whether at the polling unit, ward and local government.
“We should all be able to stay in our homes and see the results of the election. This is the 21st century. It’s only bold initiatives that transform societies.
“We must legislate that all litigations arising with disputed elections have been concluded before inauguration of the winner. This was the case in 1979, I don’t know how we got to this situation. The current time frame between election and inauguration of the winner is adequate to dispense with all election litigations.
“What we are doing currently is asking thieves to keep their loot and use the same to defend themselves when the case of their robbery is being decided. It only encourages mandate-banditry rather than discouraging it.
“In order to ensure popular mandate and fair representation, we must move to require a candidate for president to earn 50 percent plus 1 of the valid votes cast, pending when a run-off between the top two candidates will be held.
“Most countries that elect their presidents use this system with slight variations rather than our current system. Examples include France, Australia, Portugal, Thailand, Brazil, Argentina, Ivory Coast, Namibia, Mozambique, even in Liberia where a run off is to take place in the coming days.
“Again, in order to reduce the desperation of incumbents, to create national unity, we need to move to a single 6 year term where the office will be rotated among the six geo-political zones.
“This will prevent the ganging up of two or more geo-political zones to alternate the presidency among themselves with the exclusion of other zones.
“INEC should be mandated to verify the credentials and certificates presented by candidates and their parties.
“If it is unable to do so because the institutions involved didn’t respond on time it must publicly say so and have it on record. A situation where a candidate produces contradictory credentials to INEC iof the electoral umpire accepts them it amounts to negligence. It amounts to breach of the law by the leadership of INEC.
“If the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, can imply by its judgment that crime is good and should be rewarded, then Nigeria has lost, and the country is in trouble irrespective of who occupies the presidential seat.
“If the Supreme Court decides that the electoral umpire can tell the public one thing and do something else in order to arrive at a predetermined outcome, then there is no hope for the country’s democracy and the electoral process. Obviously the consequences of those decisions in the country will not end at the expiration of the current government. It will last for decades. Am sure that history will vindicate me. We now know what the Supreme Court has decided,” he said.
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