By Ononye VC
The Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Peter Obi, says he is still committed to building a new Nigeria in spite of the Supreme Court ruling on the 2023 Presidential Election, which is not in his favour.
Obi said this when he addressed a news conference on Monday in Abuja.
He expressed disappointment over the ruling, saying however, that he remained committed to building a nation anchored on the principles of prudent management of resources.
He said that his commitment was to also ensure transparency and accountability and equitable distribution of opportunities, resources, and privileges in the country.
“As someone who has previously benefited from the rulings of the Supreme Court on electoral matters, I have after a period of deep and sober reflection, decided to personally and formally react to the recent judgment as most Nigerians have.
“This is because we are confronted with very weighty issues of national interest,” he said.
Mr Obi said that he disagreed very strongly with the ruling of both the Presidential Petitions Court, PEPC, and the Supreme Court on the outcome of the Feb. 25 presidential election as declared by Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
“However ,as democrats who believe in the rule of law, we recognise that the Supreme Court is the end stage of the quest for legal closure to the matter.
“As a party and as candidates, Datti and I have now exhausted all legal and constitutional remedies available to us.
“However, this end is only another beginning in our quest for the vindication of the hope of the common man for a better country.
“After all, sovereignty belongs to the people! If only for historical purposes, it behooves us to place our disagreement with and deep reservations about this judgment on public record,” he said.
Mr Obi added, “Where the value and import of the recent Supreme Court ruling ends is where my commitment to a new Nigeria begins.
“Our mission and mandate remain unchanged. From the very onset, our mission has been more about enthroning a new Nigeria.
“It is a new nation where things work, where the country is led from its present waste and consumption orientation to a production-driven economy.
“In the new Nigeria,the aim is to address all unmet needs by showing compassion for all those left behind by the present system.”
“Going forward, we at the LP and the Obidient Movement are now effectively in opposition. We are glad that the nation has heard us loud and clear.
“We shall now expand the confines of our message of hope to the rest of the country. We shall meet the people in the places where they feel pain and answer their needs for hope.
“At marketplaces, motor parks, town halls, board rooms, and university and college campuses, we all carry and deliver the message of a new Nigeria”.
Obi said that as stakeholders and elected LP officials, they plan to remain loyal to the party’s manifesto.
“Given our present national circumstances, there is a compelling need for a strong political opposition.
“We shall, therefore, remain in opposition, especially because of the policies and the governance modalities that we in the Labour Party campaigned for.
“These includes especially reducing the cost of governance, moving the nation from consumption to production, reducing inflation, ending insecurity, promoting the rule of law, guaranteeing the responsibility to protect, and stabilising the Nigerian currency.
“These are clearly not the priorities of the present administration nor is it interested in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” he said.
Obi said that one thing that had gladdened his heart in the course of the struggle of the past 18 months, was the passionate desire of people, especially young people from across ethnic and religious divides.
He said that their desire was to construct a new and restructured Nigeria that would work for all Nigerians and that goal remained his guiding light and abiding inspiration.
