A former member of the House of Representatives, Robinson Uwak, says it is time for President Bola Tinubu-led government to embark on reconciliation following the victory at the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC).
Uwak, who represented Oron, Mbo, Okobo, Ure-Offong/Oruko and Udung-Uko Federal Constituency of Akwa Ibom at the 7th Assembly, made the call on Sunday in a statement in Abuja.
The ex-lawmaker congratulated the president and his team, saying, “the judgment has cleared doubts about the conduct of the 2023 presidential election.”
He appealed to the government to explore more opportunities for reconciliation and a broad development coalition in the interest of the country.
Uwak further advised the government to embark on projects that would accelerate the development of the country and enhance the living standards of the people.
Examining the economic situation in the country, he advised the government to spend its way out of the situation by embarking on capital projects.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Justice Haruna Tsammani-led presidential election tribunal had, on Wednesday, affirmed President Tinubu’s victory at the Feb. 25 presidential election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
NAN reports that in its over-12-hour-long judgment, the panel of judges led by Tsammani dismissed all three petitions challenging Mr Tinubu’s election in his lead judgement.
Other members of the panel – Stephen Adah, Misitura Bolaji-Yusuf (the only female on the bench), Moses Ugo, and Abbah Mohammed – took their turns to also adopt the reasoning and conclusion of the lead judgment.
The petitioners were Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who was declared as the first runner-up in the election; Peter Obi of the Labour Party, the second runner-up, and the All Peoples Movement (APM).
The panel unanimously stressed the total lack of credible evidence adduced by the petitioners to support their cases and described some of the legal arguments of Atiku and Obi as “fallacious and ridiculous”.
“From the foregoing, therefore, it is very clear and certain that the petitioners have failed to prove that the 2023 presidential election and the return of the 2nd respondent (Tinubu) was invalidated by reason of corrupt practices or non-compliance with the Electoral Act 2022,” Tsammani declared.
The declaration came at a point in the unusually drawn-out proceeding when members of the members of the audience in the packed courtroom had reduced by almost half. (INEC).
(NAN)
