"Mr Obi, it cannot always be about you. It must always be about our country. Cases are not won on public opinion, they are won on evidence and the law. You failed on both counts," the APC said.
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has blasted Peter Obi for downplaying the country's Supreme Court judgement affirming the electoral victory of President Bola Tinubu last month.
In a statement issued Monday by its National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, the ruling party told Mr Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general elections, that court cases are not won on public opinion but on evidence and law, and that he failed on both fronts.
The reaction by the APC came a few hours after Mr Obi, at a press conference in Abuja earlier on Monday, said the Supreme Court judgement confirming Mr Tinubu's last election's victory contradicts the "overwhelming evidence of rigging and false claims of technical glitch" among others presented before the court.
Also, among several other things, Mr Obi said the Supreme Court exhibited a disturbing aversion to public opinion just as it abandoned its responsibility as a court of law and policy.
Reacting to Mr Obi's assertion, Mr Morka said the former Anambra governor's gross inability to distinguish between his warped version of public opinion and reality has been his greatest undoing throughout the electioneering season.
"Mr Obi, it cannot always be about you. It must always be about our country. Cases are not won on public opinion, they are won on evidence and the law. You failed on both counts," the statement said.
The APC said it has accepted Mr Obi's decision to engage in opposition politics going forward, however, it urged him and his party (LP) to do so maturely and constructively and contribute to the important task of building a safer, stronger and more prosperous country for us all.
Read the party's full statement below:
FCT, ABUJA
NOVEMBER 6, 2023
PRESS STATEMENT
*PETER OBI, COURT CASES ARE NOT WON ON PUBLIC OPINION BUT ON EVIDENCE AND LAW - YOU FAILED ON BOTH COUNTS*
In his belated and grouchy reaction to the judgment of the Supreme Court dismissing his appeal against the electoral victory of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Peter Obi, candidate of the Labour Party, stated that "the Supreme Court exhibited a disturbing aversion to public opinion just as it abandoned its responsibility as a court of law and policy."
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At his Press Conference earlier today, November 6, 2023, Obi, again blamed our democratic institutions, particularly the courts for not awarding him victory - not because he won the election, not because he proved his case in court as required by law but because he is Peter Obi. That haughty sense of entitlement seems to pervade his vitriolic attack on our institutions.
Mr Obi's gross inability to distinguish between his warped version of public opinion and reality has been his greatest undoing throughout the electioneering season. Taken by the mass hysteria of his vociferous netizens and fringe supporters, Mr Obi ensconced himself in an alternate reality, a parallel political universe of self-delusion.
As "someone who has previously benefited from the rulings of the Supreme Court on electoral matters", Obi's acerbic attack on the judiciary only belies his arrogance and vainness. When the same courts previously decided in his favour, the courts were beacons of democracy. Now that the decisions are against him, all of a sudden, the courts have betrayed democracy. Mr Obi, it cannot always be about you. It must always be about our country. Cases are not won on public opinion, they are won on evidence and the law. You failed on both counts.
We welcome Mr Obi's decision to engage in opposition politics going forward. We urge Obi and his Labour Party to do so maturely and constructively and contribute to the important task of building a safer, stronger and more prosperous country for us all.
Signed:
*Felix Morka, Esq.*
National Publicity Secretary
All Progressives Congress (APC)
