Against the backdrop of castigation and blackmail by the Supreme Court two days ago, the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) on Tuesday advised the Supreme Court to desist from attacking the opposition party.
Blueprint reports that the Director of Press in the Supreme Court, Mr. Festus Akande, had about two days ago accused the CUPP of blackmail.
But the CUPP in a statement by its Spokesman, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, condemned the statement credited to the apex court.
The statement reads: “ The coalition read with dismay a statement credited to the Supreme Court in which the apex court that is expected to be neutral on all issues descended heavily on the coalition for alerting Nigerians on the issue that concerns them and the nation.
According to him, the Supreme Court has by that statement successfully descended into the arena, has taken sides and has decided to join issues with the opposition perhaps because the supposed quiet plan and alliance with the APC led Federal Government had been botched.
”The CUPP and opposition have before now exposed the plan to alter the order of seniority which is used in appointing Supreme Court justices that sit on presidential appeal since 1979.
We had insisted that the plan is to truncate the appeal filed by the Coalition consensus candidate and Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
”It is noteworthy that the attack on CUPP by the highest court in the land came less than 24 hours after the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) issued its own statement in which it threw caution to the wind, fired a childish arrow at the grand opposition alliance and said unprintable things about the opposition while not addressing the issues raised and making claims of Nigeria being an imaginary one party state.
”We know of a fact that it is not a coincidence that the two separate statements from the ruling party and the apex court came almost the same time. The releases were clearly syndicated. It is a confirmation of our long-time belief that something sinister is going on.
”They have confirmed that they are both reading from the same book and are on the same page.
It is expected that those concerned will be coming out of their holes one after the other because the opposition have exposed them.
Ugochinyere insisted that instead of the Apex Court accusing the opposition of blackmail, what is expected of it was to simply reassure citizens of its dedication and commitment to do justice, instead of attacking citizens.
”Is there anything that this Court wants us to do? Does the Supreme Court also want to curtail citizens’ freedom of speech? If the Court can speak so harshly to citizens for expressing concerns about justice, then we are doomed to accept the gagging of media by the Executive as a normal act. God help us.”
The Coalition nevertheless charged that the only way out of the challenge is for the CJN to constitute the Supreme Court panel that will hear Atiku’s appeal in order of seniority in accordance with the age-long tradition that has been in practice since 1979.
