Tinubu is Nigeria’s President-Select – Atiku’s Camp

Bola Tinubu, the president-elect of Nigeria as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been described as ‘President-select’ and not ‘President-elect’ by the camp of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) was also warned against using the instrument of blackmail to intimidate the judges of the presidential election petition tribunal.

Daniel Bwala, The spokesperson for Atiku/Okowa Presidential Campaign Council, gave the warning in an interview with Arise TV that the election had been conducted and a president had been “selected by the INEC, that is their preferred candidate”.

“Now we are in court to say that it was a rigged process. As long as there is no final determination of the matter, we have every right under law, equity and justice to hold the opinion that we express – that he is a President-select and not a President-elect,” he said.

Bwala also said the observation of PDP in the last few months saw that the Nigerian government under the platform of the APC had been using the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to intimidate media houses in an attempt to subdue freedom of expression from the opposition.

He also said the governing party and the government in power always do things that would intimidate or induce the judges and always try to manipulate the process or confuse the people. 

Bwala said “Our concern about the adjudication is the known fact that in Africa, any time a case is taken to court, the governing party and the government in power will always want to do anything they can to either intimidate the judges, to induce the judges, to manipulate the process or to confuse the people.

He said that there are only two options to be done at this stage. One is to become problematic in the country by creating chaos everywhere, which he believes, is not strengthening democracy and the other one is to gather a global consensus which is the whole idea of the United Nations.

This means that nations of the world must subscribe to agreements codified in charter, in conventions, in treaties, in agreements, and that the common thing that binds them together is the rule of law, adherence to due process of law, non-interference in the institutions of the state.

Bwala disclosed that they had to engage international media because the government of the day is using an institution of the state called Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to intimidate media houses which limit them to expressing themselves.

“We have the utmost confidence in the judicial system but what we are saying is that the government, the ruling party should not use what is commonly known as the instrument of blackmail, which is used to preserve the power to intimidate the judges”, he added.