The Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria has warned the Supreme Court not to bend the law in the cases involving the presidential election held on February 25, 2023.
The Bishops spoke following the ruling of the Presidential Election Petitions Court, which dismissed the cases before it.
The cases were brought by the Allied Peoples Movement; Labour Party and its candidate, Peter Obi; and Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
Obi and Abubakar have taken their cases to the Supreme Court.
Speaking at the Opening Ceremony of the 2023 Second Plenary Assembly of the CBCN on Sunday in Abuja, the Bishops faulted the ruling of the PEPC that the Independent National Electoral Commission was not mandated to transmit election results electronically after billions of Naira were spent on the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System and Result Viewing Portal.
In its position presented by its President, Archbishop Lucius Ugorji, the Bishops said: “By the time the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, declared the presidential results, the results from thousands of polling units had not been uploaded on the IRev and a high percentage of the uploaded results, required for the verification and authentication of the manual results, were defaced or blurred.
“In some instances, irrelevant objects were uploaded on the IRev.
“Contestants in the presidential election, who protested against the electoral process and the results hurriedly declared by the INEC Chairman, were advised to go to court, and they did.
“After hearing their petitions, the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) delivered its ruling in a marathon judgement on 6 September 2023.
“The five Justices of the Election Petition Court unanimously dismissed the petitions.
“According to them, they lacked merit. Despite the billions of Naira of tax-payers money appropriated for the provision of the BIVAS technology as a game-changer in our general elections, the Judges in their ruling tried, among other things, to suggest that it was wrong to expect INEC to keep its promise or obey the electoral regulation of transmitting election results electronically in real-time from the polling units.
ALSO READ: PEPC: Verdict unassailable – Oladele: https://t.co/37uxtlkAfW
“While respecting the views of the Judges, two of the petitioners rejected their verdict as lacking in justice and so have decided to head to the Supreme Court to seek justice.
Also Read:
PEPC: Read full judgment in Tinubu, Obi, Atiku case https://t.co/qzliJM0GWu
- WAEC introduces CBT as option in November 2024 WASSCE
- How to report misconduct of our Officers — Police
- Tinubu subsidised cost of 2024 hajj with N90b – Shettima
- Nigerian jailed in US for $1.1m fraud
- Veteran actress Liz Benson returns to Nollywood
“As this case moves to the next level, the fate of the country continues to hang in the balance and the future of democracy in our land stands on the edge of a precipice.
“We pray and hope that the Supreme Court Judges will neither bend the law nor seek to satisfy the whims and caprices of any party.
“We also pray and hope for a day in our nation when all election results will be finally decided at the polling units and not at the Court.”
The Catholic Bishops also spoke on insecurity in the nation, saying it remains a major problem.