The Labour Party has raised concerns about what it perceives as a premature statement made by retired Supreme Court Justice Mary Odili regarding the impending judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT), scheduled for today, VANGUARD reports.
Obiora Ifoh, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, expressed these concerns in a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday. He clarified that the party felt it was necessary to bring the unfolding developments in the country to the public’s attention before Wednesday’s PEPC ruling.
The party criticized individuals who, despite understanding the significance of judicial integrity, engage in premature pronouncements to demonstrate loyalty and support for their interests, viewing such actions as unfortunate and detrimental to Nigeria’s democratic journey.
Ifoh also criticized Justice Odili’s lavish praise of the legal counsels of both the All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu during an event unrelated to their case, considering it unbecoming for a jurist of her stature.
The party questioned the PEPC’s inconsistency in initially refusing live television coverage during the petition hearings but now expressing eagerness to broadcast the judgment, seeking an explanation for this abrupt policy change.
Ifoh said: “Also curious to every discerning mind watching the unfolding events in Nigeria since the February 25th Presidential election is the fact that the PEPC that refused live television coverage of the hearings of the petition, and is now anxious to have the conclusion beamed live.
“What is it that has happened between the hearing period and the delivery of the judgment that the live coverage which they claimed was a policy issue changed suddenly at the delivery point?”
The LP chieftain addressed efforts to attribute problems to the political opposition by state agents, emphasizing the democratic right of people to demonstrate in a democracy and the responsibility of state security agents to protect both demonstrators and non-demonstrators.
He urged Nigerians to remain calm and peaceful, adhere to the rule of law, and understand that the matter has not reached its logical and final conclusion.
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