Senator Magnus Abe , who represented Rivers South-East senatorial district in the last dispensation, has denied attacking the judiciary after the tribunal dismissed his petition challenging the result of the last senatorial election in his area.
Abe who spoke in Gokhana Local Government Area, LGA, said there was no time he described the judiciary as a 419 institution, stressing that he only attacked the five days granted him by the tribunal to produce witnesses from every unit in his senatorial district to prove his case.
Senator Abe, who was the candidate of All progressives Congress, APC, in the last senatorial election, reaffirmed his confidence in the judiciary, saying he was appealing against the judgment of the lower tribunal.
According to him: “The outcome of our case at the tribunal is not satisfactory and we have decided, in keeping with the decision of the APC in Rivers State, that we must seek justice for you and for all of us. We have decided that we must proceed to the Court of Appeal to appeal against the decision of the lower court. A lot of comments have been made about the decision of the court. And most regrettably, one of the comments that people keep referring to is to say that Senator Abe said it was judicial 419. In making reference to that comment, they forgot everything else that I said in that comment.
“First, I said we have absolute confidence in the Nigerian judiciary; and that we are confident that in this country, there are still judges that see merit in our case and will give all of us an opportunity to present our case the way we should present it. I also said that I respect the industry of the judges that heard our case, but that I did not agree with the reason that was given for the decision, and I said that we should appeal. In making those remarks, I said that when they ask me that we should have brought witnesses from every polling unit from the senatorial district, and we were given only five days to present our case. It was that action that I said was 419. I did not say that the Nigerian judiciary is 419. I have never said so and I will not say so. So, for those who interpreted my words in that respect, I apologise. I didn’t mean that and I did not say that.”
