Onyekachi Eze 
The candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the February presidential election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, is accusing the All Progressives Congress (APC) and agents of Bola Tinubu, of intimidating judges handling petitions against the declaration of Tinubu by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to give favourable judgments for them.
Atiku in a statement issued by his media adviser, Paul Ibe, also accused the APC and Tinubu’s agents of standing in the way of justice by making threats to anarchy if justice is not served according to their whims.
The former vice president said there were media reports of some heinous plots to harass these justices, and warned that such could threaten peace and security in the country.
He recalled that the APC-led Federal Government, in 2019, removed then Chief Justice of Nigeria Justice Walter Onnoghen, when it was obvious that he would not bend to their will.
“The Department of State Services similarly stormed the homes of judges in 2016 and 2017, all in a bid to beat the judiciary into submission.
“The plot of the APC is simple: intimidate the judiciary, threaten judges with arrest so that they will bow to their will.
“This is a playbook from 2019 when they removed the CJN and then replaced him with Tanko Muhammad, who himself was later accused of corruption by his colleagues at the Supreme Court and resigned shamefully,” he said.
Atiku noted that the APC government did not go after Tanko Muhammad as it did in Onnoghen’s case “because it was never about corruption but the election.”
He reminded the ruling party that the nation’s democracy gives the people the powers to choose their leaders, “and our laws demand that our judiciary must be allowed to act independently without harassment and intimidation by the government or powerful interests.
“To compromise the workings of our democracy and seeking to compromise the workings of our judiciary is an open call for anarchy.
“Indeed, we are using this channel to call on the international community to be alerted.
“Nigeria’s democracy should not be undermined by using the judiciary to serve the interest of the ruling party.
“We draw the attention of the international community and, indeed, Nigerians to this fresh plot to steal the mandate of over 200 million people,” he said.
The former vice president promised that as a party in the litigation that is currently reviewing the outcome of the last presidential election, he would do all that is within the law in resisting any attempt to undermine the nation’s democracy.
He appealed to security agencies to remain professional in the discharge of their duties and resist being used as an instrument of oppression and intimidation against the judiciary.
