Popular human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) has expressed concern about the attention the expected verdict of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal is generating from Nigerians.
The lawyer stated that no election petition has attracted such a level of blackmail and intimidation of the judiciary since the colonial days as the 2023 tribunal.
Falana however pointed out that the verdict of the tribunal is not final and all stakeholders need to remember that the Supreme Court can still overturn whatever be the presidential tribunal’s ruling.
The lawyer made the submission on Monday during an interview appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
In his words, “We have been having election petitions since the colonial era, but none has attracted such level of blackmail and intimidation of the judiciary.
“I am worried that people give the impression that everything ends with the judgement of the Court of Appeal, the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal. Any party that loses on Wednesday still has the opportunity to appeal to the Supreme Court. So, what is the basis for the cheap blackmail that is going on?”
The senior lawyer noted that regardless of the outcome of Wednesday’s tribunal ruling, the heavens won’t fall and the judges must not be intimidated.
“As they say, even if the heavens will fall and the heavens won’t fall anyway, the judges must not be intimidated, they must give their decision regardless of blackmail or intimidations convinced that they can justify their judgment.
“That is what is required of them, to examine the evidence, apply the law and deliver a decision. One way or the other, some will lose, some will win; but those who lose in the case and are aggrieved will have another opportunity to approach the Supreme Court and demonstrate how the Court of Appeal has erred,” Falana submitted.
It would be recalled that the Court of Appeal on Monday confirmed that it will deliver judgement on the presidential election petitions on Wednesday, 6th September, 2023.
