BY GODWIN OBI
The candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 presidential election, Peter Obi, on Monday, said his dream for a new Nigeria has not ended with the October 26, 2023 verdict of the Supreme Court.
Obi spoke at a press conference in Abuja about two weeks after the apex court affirmed the February 25, 2023, electoral victory of President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Obi, who faulted the judgement of the apex court, however, agreed that the end has come to the legal battle of the last election.
Addressing his supporters popularly known as ‘Obidients’, the former governor of Anambra State said a destination is not an event but a journey.
Although the 62-year-old businessman, who addressed the media alongside his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, did not explicitly disclose whether he would run for President again in 2027, he said the end has not come for his journey for a new Nigeria.
Obi appreciated “the energy and dedication of Nigerian youths and the Obidient movement”.
He said, “I want to assure them that this is not the end of our journey but in fact the beginning. Nigerians heard you, the world has taken note and we will not forget easily. We shall endure, and persist until we reach our destination because new Nigeria is our destination. A destination is not an event.”
Obi and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterpart, Atiku Abubakar, had challenged the victory of Tinubu in the last election up to the apex court.
Not satisfied with the verdict of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) earlier in September, Atiku and Obi approached the Supreme Court seeking the nullification of Tinubu’s election on the grounds of double nomination, alleged certificate forgery, non-transmission of results electronically, 25% votes in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), amongst others.
However, penultimate Thursday, the Justice John Okoro-led panel of the apex court threw out all the appeals by Atiku and Obi for lacking merit. The panel thereafter upheld the electoral victory of Tinubu.
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