The candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 presidential election, Peter Obi, has described President Bola Tinubu’s claim that he (Obi) is inviting anarchy by challenging his (Tinubu) election in the February 25 Presidential Election as a cheap, misguided and destructive blackmail intended to destroy Nigeria’s judiciary, constitution and raise issue of insecurity in the country.
Obi, who said this in his final written address in response to the final written address of President Tinubu and the Vice President, Kashim Shettima at the 2023 Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, also noted that Tinubu’s claim is aimed at cannibalising Nigeria’s democracy but vowed that it "will never happen.”
The former governor of Anambra State questioned when it became offensive for petitioners to canvas a ground prescribed for the challenge of an election in section 134(1)(b) of the Electoral Act 2022?, adding that desperation taken too far can be extremely dangerous and that Tinubu and Shettima should know that where the rule of law is trampled upon or truncated, anarchy reigns supreme.
He said, “A sentence in the 2nd-3rd Respondents' address alarmed the Petitioners and millions of Nigerians. The 2nd-3rd Respondents went too low and abandoned discretion when they claimed as follows: 'Our submission is that the Petitioners are inviting anarchy by their ventilation of this issue of non-transmission of results electronically, by INEC.'
“This is a cheap, misguided, and destructive blackmail clearly intended to target the country's judicialism and constitutionalism. It also aims at cannibalizing our democracy. It will also raise the issue of insecurity if the Petitioners emulate the bad example of the 2nd-3rd Respondents. However, that will never happen.
“When has it become offensive for Petitioners to canvass a ground prescribed for the challenge of an election in section 134(1)(b) of the Electoral Act 2022? Desperation taken too far can be extremely dangerous. Let the 2nd-3rd Respondents know that where the rule of law is trampled upon or truncated, anarchy reigns supreme!”