Buhari didn’t influence election petitions judges – Olanipekun

The Lead Counsel to President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 presidential election petition, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), said on Friday the President never used his position to influence the decision of the courts in the election petitions.

Olanipekun, according to a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the President, Garba Shehu, stated this at a dinner organised by President Buhari for members of his legal team for the 2019 presidential election petition in Abuja.

Olanipekun said the President’s victory in courts was based on the facts of the law.

He said: “The courts were allowed to do their jobs. Mr. President, I must commend you for that sir.

“Nobody whispered to anyone of us, how we are going to see judge A or judge B? That’s the way it should be. Judges must be allowed and be given free hand to do their job.

“Mr. President, we are happy to have been called upon and we are happy that we delivered.”

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On electoral reforms, the lead counsel acknowledged that while the National Assembly was working on the Electoral Act, the law required some ‘‘rejigging and cleansing.’’

He added: ‘‘We are happy to know that the National Assembly is doing something about the electoral law.

‘‘We are ready to cooperate with them without taking a dime, whether as consultants, whether as legal practitioners, whether as experts. If the Attorney-General of the Federation will co-opt us, we are ready to give assistance.”

The Senior Advocate of Nigeria also commended the President’s commitment to the rule of law, saying, ‘‘it is the surest legacy Mr. President can bequeath to our dear nation.’’

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