Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 election, said on Thursday that he will drop his challenge to the victory of President Bola Tinubu only when the Supreme Court rules.
Atiku, who came second in the election, had filed a petition challenging the poll’s outcome at the Presidential Tribunal, but the tribunal struck out his petition. Despite the ruling, Atiku appealed to the Supreme Court and filed a case in a US court to compel the release of official documents related to Tinubu’s educational qualifications.
At a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, Atiku said he was not ready to back down from his challenge.
“I have already filed my appeal against him at the Supreme Court. It is only when the court rules that he is right that I will drop this fight; in other words, I will drop it when the court rules because there is no court higher than the Supreme Court,” Atiku said.
Atiku also denied that he was under pressure from Tinubu to drop the case. He said that after the election, he learnt that the president sent a delegation of governors to contact him.
“I didn’t even let them come to my house,” Atiku said, a comment that attracted laughter in the hall.
He also added that he was not afraid that the government would go after his business interests, narrating how the licence of Intels, a logistics firm he co-owned, was revoked under ex-President Muhammadu Buhari.
“I don’t have any fear. I have never been intimidated by any government,” he said.
The Supreme Court is expected to hear Atiku’s appeal against Tinubu’s victory in the coming weeks.
