The Certified True Copy of the judgment delivered against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has been released.
Recall that the party in a statement earlier on Friday had criticised the delay in making the document available to It, suggesting it was a ploy to alter it.
The PDP, through its spokesman, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, raised the alarm over the delay, cautioning against tampering with evidence.
The opposition party said it needed the document to enable it and its Presidential candidate to promptly file an appeal to upturn the judgment at the Supreme Court.
The party stated: “Our party and millions of supporters across the country believe that the delay is a calculated attempt by some quarters to frustrate our appeal at the Supreme Court, where Nigerians have expressed confidence to get justice as well as restore the integrity of our judiciary, which has been eroded by the Tribunal.
“It is instructive to state that the Court of Appeal is aware that our party and candidate have mandatory 14 days to appeal to the Supreme Court, yet it is delaying in releasing a judgment that was read for nine hours and which it wants the public to believe it actually wrote.
“Our party fears that this development is lending credence to suspicion in the public space that the judgment is being tampered with and altered, in the name of correcting errors, knowing that there is no way the verdicts can stand the scrutiny of the Supreme Court.
“We also hope there is no link between the circumstances surrounding this delay and the boasts by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, speaking for the Buhari Presidency, as well as the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, that justice will not be served to the PDP and our Presidential candidate at the Supreme Court.
“The PDP had always alerted Nigerians of the relentless efforts by the APC to manipulate processes and we are happy that our party and Nigerians in general, have the full video and audio recording of the judgment and we will not hesitate to expose any underhand act by anybody.
“The PDP therefore demands the immediate release of the record of judgment as delivered by the Tribunal without any form of alterations.”