‘Your comment on Oyetola’s victory ridiculous’ — Femi Adesina tackles Atiku

Femi Adesina, presidential spokesman, says the presidency finds as “ridiculous”, the reaction of Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to the supreme court ruling upholding Gbenga Oyetola as Osun governor.

After a long legal battle between Oyetola, the All Progressives Candidate (APC) and Ademola Adeleke, his PDP counterpart, the apex court on Friday held that Oyetola remains the bonafide governor of the state.

Commenting on the ruling, Atiku asked the judiciary to “take a pulse of the nation and reflect it”.

He also asked the judiciary to “ensure that justice is done”, insinuating that the government arm was under pressure.

“The Supreme Court has ruled and because of its judicial finality, the legal case is over,” Atiku had said.

“However, the love, acceptance and endorsement that the people of Osun bestowed on both Adeleke and the PDP is not over and cannot be overlooked.

But in a statement on Friday, Adesina asked the former vice president how the judiciary is supposed to gauge the pulse of the nation.

According to him, no brows were raised when the APC lost the Zamfara and Rivers elections but “now that the victory of the party in Osun was upheld, there is insinuation of pressure from those who have never learnt to play straight.”

Adesina said if at all there is pressure on the judiciary, it is not from Buhari.

“Learned people know that the judiciary comes to conclusions drawing from matters of law placed before it, and not sentiments, or so-called “pulse of the nation,” the statement read.

“A pertinent question is: how does the judiciary gauge the pulse of the nation? Is it even positioned to do such? Is the judiciary established for that purpose, or to dispense justice, even if the Heavens fall?

“Again, there is insinuation of inducement in the statement, when the PDP candidate said the judiciary should ensure justice is done, ‘irrespective of the pressure to do otherwise, by the powers that be’.

“We see this as an attempt to browbeat the judiciary, thus causing it to entertain sentiment in the ongoing petition on the presidential election before the tribunal. If anybody has the tendency or proclivity to put pressure on the judiciary, Nigerians know where the finger points, and it is definitely not at President Muhammadu Buhari. This was a man who had thrice taken his electoral challenges to the judiciary, up to the Supreme Court. And not once was he accused of trying to influence the process, or put pressure on the courts.”