Tribunal: Court Of Appeal Intentionally Frustrating Our Move To Approach Supreme Court – Atiku Camp Alleges

The camp of the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar has accused the Court of Appeal of intentionally frustrating their plan to approach the Supreme Court.

The Special Assistant to Atiku Abubakar on Public Communications, Phrank Shaibu in a statement on Friday said the Court of Appeal is yet to provide their lawyers with the certified true copies of their judgment three days after the verdict was given, knowing fully well that they have just 14 days to file their appeal to the Supreme Court on the judgment.

He accused the appellate court of intentionally wasting the time needed by their lawyers to digest the judgement before approaching the Supreme Court.

Naija News recalls the tribunal had on Wednesday, 6th September dismissed all the petitions filed against the victory of President Bola Tinubu, however, Atiku and the PDP rejected the result and vowed to appeal the tribunal verdict at the Supreme Court.

Shaibu on Friday alleged however that by not making the certified true copies of their judgment available to Atiku and PDP lawyers, the Appeal Court is only trying to undermine their quest for justice.

According to him, “By not making available to Atiku Abubakar, Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, the certified true copies of the judgment of Wednesday for its filings at the Supreme Court, the Presidential Election Petition Court, is undermining Atiku’s and Nigerians quest for justice.”

Shaibu reminded the PEPC that “it had made heavy weather at the delivery of its judgment on Wednesday that parties need to adhere strictly to the time schedule set by the court.”

He noted that “The PEPC is not oblivious that three precious days of the 14-day limit for parties to file their processes at the highest court have been wasted by the Appeal Court.

“We wish to remind the PEPC that it struck out the testimonies of some of the witnesses of Atiku during the litigation at the court of first instance because their statements on oath were filed out of time.

“And now, from all intents and purposes, the same court wants to have Atiku and PDP’s appeal to the Supreme Court disqualified by the reason of time deadline.

“Does the PEPC not understand that the lawyers representing Atiku/PDP need to digest the judgment as contained in the CTC which represents the authentic pronouncements made in court on Wednesday in order to formulate its case for filing?” Shaibu queried.

Why Release A Judgement Still Undergoing Panel Beating?

Shaibu queried why the tribunal rushed to release a judgement still undergoing panel beating instead of waiting to properly finish its work.

Atiku’s aide noted that it is anti-democratic of the tribunal to make their camp lose 3 days that would never be recovered.

In his view, “There can be no justification for the PEPC not making available the CTC of its so-called judgement for Atiku to continue with his quest on behalf of over 200 million Nigerians for substantial justice as opposed to the judgement rendered by the PEPC.

“It is curious that the same PEPC that claimed that the judgement was ready as at the time it was delivered on Wednesday is still grappling with typos and errors, according to available information. Why did the PEPC not wait till next week to deliver the judgment as it would still have met the legal deadline instead of rushing to render a judgement which text is still undergoing panel beating?

“It is anti-democratic of the court to steal, already at the last count, 3 precious days out of the 14-day time limit for Atiku to file his processes at the Supreme Court. The lost time would never be recovered,” he said.