A Former federal lawmaker and Chairman of Silverbird Television and Cinema, Ben Bruce, has advised the 2023 Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and Peter Obi of the Labour Party, to act like former President Goodluck Jonathan, who conceded defeat to the immediate former President, Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.
Senator Bruce who expressed this while reacting to the Wednesday judgement at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal through a post on his X handle, said Atiku and Obi should not have gone to court to challenge the victory of the All Progressives Congress candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the first place.
Premium Politics reported that Atiku and Obi are challenging the declaration of Tinubu as the winner of the February 25, 2023 presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
However, they suffered a major setback in the legal battle to unseat Tinubu as Nigeria’s elected President, at the tribunal, on Wednesday, September 6, 2023, after the court threw away their petitions and affirmed the victory of President Tinubu, in the election.
Meanwhile, both politicians have decided to seek justice at the Supreme Court where the matter would be finally resolved.
Reacting to their decisions, Murray-Bruce felt they should not have started the journey, even from scratch, in the interest of democracy.
According to him, the media expert, the politicians should have saved themselves legal trouble by emulating former President Goodluck Jonathan, who in 2015, picked up his phone and congratulated Muhammadu Buhari even before the result was announced by the INEC.
Bruce explained that there should be no need for further wasting of time and resources once the electoral umpire has declared the winner of an election.
“We must follow the Jonathan doctrine and accept the people’s verdict in the interest of democracy and the nation,” he wrote on X.
“Our elections don’t have to end in the courts,” he insisted.
The former lawmaker however advised that the aggrieved politicians should accept the Tribunal verdict and place national interest above self-interest.
“Bola Ahmed Tinubu, @officialABAT, is the duly elected and undisputed President of Nigeria, @NGRPresident,” he said, advising that there should be no further doubts and disputes after the judgement had been given at the PEPT.
