PEPT: Nigeria’s destiny is in jeopardy — Catholic Bishops

PEPT: Nigeria’s destiny is in jeopardy — Catholic Bishops

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, CBCN, has expressed concerns over the judgment of the 2023 Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal, PEPT, upholding the victory of President Bola Tinubu.

GISTS VILLA recalls that the PEPT, on Wednesday last week, trashed the petitions filed by Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP, counterpart, Atiku Abubakar, for lacking merit.

Obi and Atiku, who rejected the tribunal’s verdict, have resolved to end the matter in the Supreme Court.

Reacting to the controversy surrounding the judgment, the President of the CBCN, Archbishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, claimed that the tribunal’s verdict fell short of the people’s legitimate expectations and moral and legal standards.

The bishop spoke on Sunday in Abuja while addressing an audience at the opening ceremony of the 2023 Second Plenary Assembly of the Conference.

According to him, with the move by Obi and Atiku to appeal the judgment at the Supreme Court, the fate of Nigerians has continued to “hang in the balance”.

He prayed that the Supreme Court judges would be fair to the parties when delivering their judgment on the petitions.

“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,” he added.