The All Progressives Congress (APC) has responded to Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 presidential election, who had attributed his loss to the judiciary.
The APC’s reply underscores that legal cases hinge on the presentation of concrete evidence, rather than public opinion.
This response from the APC was conveyed on a Monday, as articulated in a statement by their spokesperson, Felix Morka. The party appreciated Peter Obi’s commitment to ensuring that the Labour Party effectively serves as an opposition amidst his concerns regarding what he referred to as a compromise of justice by the Supreme Court.
Peter Obi, who recently had his election challenge dismissed by the Supreme Court, expressed his dissatisfaction with the verdict, accusing it of being unduly influenced and betraying the public’s trust during a world press conference held in Abuja.
He restated his desire to play constructive opposition and vowed that the journey for a new Nigeria had just begun.
He said the defeat in court cannot dwarf nor erase the collective desire in association with his core supporters, the obidients, to build a virile country where everyone can dream and be proud of.
Obi had said, “The Supreme Court exhibited a disturbing aversion to public opinion just as it abandoned its responsibility as a court of law and policy.”
But the APC disagreed, describing Obi’s reaction as grouchy and his allegation against the court groundless.
The APC said Obi failed to prove his case in Court but resorted to blame the “courts for not awarding him victory – not because he won the election, not because he proved his case in court as required by law but because he is Peter Obi.”
Describing it as a haughty sense of entitlement, which “seems to pervade his vitriolic attack on our institutions,” the APC said Obi’s “gross inability to distinguish between his warped version of public opinion and reality has been his greatest undoing throughout the electioneering season.
“Taken by the mass hysteria of his vociferous netizens and fringe supporters, Obi ensconced himself in alternate reality, a parallel political universe of self delusion.
“As ‘someone who has previously benefited from the rulings of the Supreme Court on electoral matters’, Obi’s acerbic attack on the judiciary only belies his arrogance and vainness.
“When the same courts previously decided in his favour, the courts were beacons of democracy. Now that the decisions are against him, all of a sudden, the courts have betrayed democracy.
“Obi, it cannot always be about you. It must always be about our country. Cases are not won on public opinion, they are won on evidence and the law. You failed on both counts.”
Welcoming his statement that he will play a strong opposition, the APC urged Obi and his Labour Party “to do so maturely and constructively, and contribute to the important task of building a safer, stronger and more prosperous country for us all.”
