Presidency to Peter Obi: No court gives judgement based on public opinion

Presidency to Peter Obi: No court gives judgement based on public opinion The Nigerian Presidency has reacted to a statement made by Peter Obi, the Labour Party's presidential candidate in the February 25th elections, over the Supreme Court's judgment affirming President Tinubu's election. In a statement issued by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information & Strategy, the Presidency said that Obi should have congratulated President Tinubu and pledged his support, rather than casting aspersions on the judiciary. The statement also welcomed Obi's pledge to play the role of the opposition and urged him to start preparing for another shot at the presidency in 2027. The full statement reads: "Labour Party Presidential candidate in the last election, Mr Peter Obi, addressed a press conference, just like Atiku Abubakar, where he cast aspersions on the Supreme Court and the Independent National Electoral Commission for not declaring him the winner of the February 25, 2023 election. "We are at a loss as to how the copycat Obi and his faction of the Labour Party convinced themselves they won an election in which they came a distant third. "The grand delusion that made Mr Obi believe he could have won a national election where he ran the most hateful, divisive and polarising campaign that pitched Christians against Muslims and one ethnic group against the other in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society like Nigeria should be a matter for deeper examination. "At the press conference where he tried, in vain, to gaslight Nigerians with false claims and innuendos, Mr Obi contradicted himself. Here was a beneficiary of judicial pronouncements in the past now castigating the same court because its judgment did not go his way. "Mr Obi claimed the Supreme Court justices didn't consider public opinion in delivering what has been applauded as a most profound judgement in an election appeal. The truth is that no court in the country gives judgment based on public opinion. Courts give judgment based on the law and the evidence before them."