The Special Assistant on Public Communication to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, Phrank Shaibu has described President Bola Tinubu’s Democracy Day broadcast as a veiled threat to Nigeria’s judiciary.
Shaibu said Tinubu had no constitutional power to determine what an illegal or legal court order is.
In his broadcast on Monday, Tinubu had said: “It has become imperative to state here that the unnecessary, illegal orders used to truncate or abridge democracy will no longer be tolerated.”
Reacting, Shaibu said it was funny that Tinubu, who had been one of the biggest beneficiaries of court orders, could turn around to “threaten the judiciary now that he has found his way into power.”
In a statement he signed, Shaibu said Tinubu’s speech had exposed his plan to run an autocratic government.
According to Shaibu: “What is an illegal court order? Is it an order that Bola Tinubu finds unfavourable?
“Is it within his powers to determine what order to obey and which one to disregard? This is a man who rode to power after several applications were dismissed based on technicalities.
“This is a man who just last week obtained a court order in order to stop the Nigeria Labour Congress from going on strike.
“However, now he suddenly realises that unnecessary so-called illegal orders used in truncating democracy would no longer be tolerated when his minions in Lagos deprived non-indigenes from voting. What a hypocrite.
“Tinubu wants to impose the leadership of the legislative arm of government. He also wants to force the judiciary to bow to his will. Does he want to turn Nigeria into a dictatorship?”