The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has counseled the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, to be cautious in celebrating the judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, that his gloating will be short-lived.
The minister had after the judgement by the PEPT advised the former vice president and presidential candidate of PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to apologise to Nigerians for allegedly distracting the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari with his frivolous election petitions and for “coming to court with fraudulently-obtained evidence”.
PDP in a statement by its national publicity secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, described the judgment, as a “direct miscarriage of justice”, which cannot stand at the Supreme Court, given the weight of evidence against President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The statement in part read ” the PDP notes that those celebrating this attempt to corrupt our justice system as well as the brazen approval of a clear case of perjury are directly telling Nigerians something about their conscience and character.
“Our party is not surprised that Lai Mohammed, speaking for the Buhari administration, came short of calling for the arrest and prosecution of opposition members for coming before the Appeal Court a situation which exposed their belief that they own the court and can determine the position of the judiciary on any matter.
“Notwithstanding, the PDP holds that Nigerians have seen the “several errors” in the judgment delivered by the Appeal Court and have turned the verdict to a butt of jokes in public space.
“We invite Lai Mohammed to tell Nigerians if his Law Degree was awarded to him on the basis of a sworn affidavit and pictures of his classmates; or was his Call to Bar at the Nigerian Law School also based on presentation of pictures and affidavit?
“In fact, if anything, the unguarded outburst of the Minister of Information has heightened apprehension among Nigerians about recurrent manipulations of process by the APC and the Buhari Presidency.
“This is more the reason the PDP stands with Nigerians in heading to the Supreme Court to uphold justice in the matter and salvage our nation from this drift towards impunity, anarchy and lawlessness.
Similarly, Paul Ibe, the media aid to the former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, also lambasted the minister of information for seeking for apology alleging that minister “smoke certified weed”.
In Twitter post, Ibe questioned the “type of weed” the information minister smokes.“Lai: Atiku should apologise to Nigerians,” he tweeted. “Me: For real? What type of weed are you smoking? It can only be #CertifiedWeed.”
