Mark, Effiong react to victory

Soji-Eze Fagbemi, Abuja, Idowu Samuel, Abuja, Ishola Michael, Bauchi - 27.02.2008

Senate President, David Mark, has congratulated President Umaru Yar’Adua on the upholding of his election by the presidential election petitions tribunal.

Mark described the decision of the tribunal as a mark of respect for the wishes of Nigerians as demonstrated at the April 21, 2007 presidential election.

Mark said the choice of Yar’Adua and Jonathan by Nigerians was not misplaced, adding that the ruling of the tribunal had reinforced the determination of Nigerians to have Yar’Adua as their President and Jonathan as his deputy.

According to him, “this judgment which has declared the election of these eminent Nigerians as valid will strengthen the growth of our democracy because it was thorough and dwelt on every aspect of the petitioners’ grouses.”

Reacting, Senator Bob Effiong said: “I listened to the judgment, it was very comprehensive. I believe the court looked at all the issues. It is one of the greatest days in Nigeria ’s history because there were a lot of anxiety within and outside the country. People were not sure of what was going to happen.

“I believe in my humble opinion that the court has done justice to the issues. The judiciary has acquitted itself and the court has established that democracy is the best government for the people of this country.”

The Federal Government has hailed the judgement by the presidential election petition tribunal, describing it as a victory for democracy and rule of law in Nigeria.

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Chief John Odeh, who reacted on behalf of the government, said President Yar’Adua had now been placed in a good stead to concentrate on governance, especially the delivery of his seven-point agenda.

Odeh said Nigerians should henceforth expect the Federal Government to move in faster pace with its policies and programmes, stressing that the judgment would propel members of the cabinet to double their efforts in delivering the dividend of democracy.

“The judgement has proved that the victory by President Yar’Adua at the last Presidential electionwas not a fluke. We salute the judiciary for being forthright. The judgement is simply a victory for democracy; it is a victory for the teeming people of Nigeria who voted overwhelmingly for President Umaru Yar’Adua. It is also a victory for the rule of law.

In Bauchi, moments after the presidential elections tribunal in Abuja delivered its judgment, residents of the town received the judgment with mixed feelings.

While the majority expressed satisfaction with the verdict, some said in view of the allegations of rigging levelled against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by the petitioners, the tribunal should have nullified the election and order re-election as the only way to ensure justice.

Emeka Onye, who deals on electronics at Wunti Street in Bauchi, said, “I know that even if the elections were to be re-contested by all the candidates, President Yar’adua will win them again hands down, so to me, justice would have been seen to have been done if the elections were cancelled and another one ordered.”

While the live telecast of the judgment lasted, many residents from offices to market places in the state capital stayed glued to their television sets to watch the live transmission of the judgment and there was wild jubilation among the supporters of President Yar’Adua after the judgment.

Most of them declared that they preferred Yar’Adua even though the process that brought him into office was flawed, saying his humane style of governance as opposed to the style of former President Olusegun Obasanjo made them to love him.

In his reaction, the Special Adviser on Political Matters and Chieftaincy Affairs to Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State and former Deputy Speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly, Abdulmumeen Kundak, said although Buhari lost at the tribunal, he advised him and Atiku Abubakar to take the judgment in good faith.