 I'm not going away, Atyku says, after Supreme Court's verdict on the 2023 general election, and Reaver's impeachment saga lingers. I am Bola Alba and this is Plus Qualities. The presidential candidate of the People's Democratic Party, PDP, in the February 25, 2023 election, Atyku Aboboka says the political arena despite the Supreme Court verdict of October 26, 2023 that affirmed the electoral victory of President Bola Tinubu. Atyku, who lost his appeal last week against the declaration of Bola Tinubu as president by the Supreme Court, spoke during the press conference at the National Secretariat of the Party in Abuja yesterday. Atyku Aboboka said he is, quote, not going away, unquote, and will, quote, continue to struggle with other Nigerians to deepen democracy and rule of law and for the kind of political and economic restructuring the country needs to reach its true potential, unquote. It's bigger than one or two presidential elections. Atyku Aboboka, by retarges, is Mosad Atyku Mohammed, is a confirmation from within the apex court that all is not well with the Supreme Court. The court and indeed the judiciary must never lend itself to police station as it is currently the norm of nearly every institution in Nigeria. What we are currently dealing with is bigger than one or two presidential elections and is certainly bigger than Atyku Aboboka. It is not about me. It is about our country in Nigeria in your future. It is about the kind of society we want to live for the next generation and what kind of example we want to set for our children and their children. It is about the reputation of Nigeria and Nigerians in the eyes of the world As for me and my party, this phase of work is done. However, I'm not going to go away. If you think I'm going to go away, forget about it. To discuss this is a key among the PEDP publicity circuitry legislated. Honorable, I today welcome to Plus Politics. Could it be construed that Vice President Atyku has just announced has been an aspirant on the ticket of your party in the next round of presidential elections? How do we need to reform our electoral system? This is a part of what is contained in this speech. He has not put himself forward that I am contesting in 2027. He has never said that. At no failure, as he called the members of our party, the National Party or had a meeting with the National Executive Council to say that I am contesting the next general election. He has not said that. Let's now look into some of the submissions he made in the speech. He almost rubbish the integrity of the Supreme Court. This same Supreme Court was the court that on a number of occasions vindicated him against the oppression of the then-President Ullusia Goombasanger with the incumbent president being a formidable strategic lieutenant and deploying the machinery of the Lagos State Government's Judicial Ministry of Justice to a particular case. Suddenly now because he has lost the Supreme Court the Supreme Court is now a cesspit for him. Is that not hypocrisy? On the way Supreme Courts are back then are they still constituted the same way? Now you can hear what the last member of the Supreme Court just is that retired few days ago to rebuild the member of the Supreme Court the judges in the Supreme Court so this is to amend credence to what he said that the judiciary needs a reform so it is not about rubbish in the judiciary it is him saying the obvious but what Nigerians do see is different from what the Supreme Court sees and the member of the Supreme Court the last judges that retired few days ago the last judge that retired few days ago articulated the same view but there is a lot that is wrong in the Supreme Court so he has never and it has no point in time said that Supreme Court is the final court of justice and is going to abide by that but you may not accept the decision that is exactly what it is but it is going to accept it but this is where we are as a country that is exactly what is happening in Nigeria as we speak because we can go way back and see a lot of things that are happening in the Supreme Court so Supreme Court and the justice system in Nigeria need only stick reforms a cursory examination of some of the allegations of justice that Tiju retired Supreme Court justice that Tiju retired that he rehashed in his speech a cursory examination of those allegations against his political history will also speak to hypocrisy he has always been since 1999 in the form of power and he is one of those who command a lot of resources how come he is now complaining that a judicial system is now filled with nepotistic characters one is just wondering is it now that he lost that he suddenly realized that all these anomalies and aberrations have been normalized for a while okay but this is not about hypocrisy it is about what is happening now we believe in the justice system and that is why he went to court but he did not assert the last judgement but that is the final court and if you remember months ago somebody asked him and said if you lose at the Supreme Court what are you going to do he said he will lose everything to God but at the same time if you now find that there is a lot that you think is not right in the judgement as in Nigeria you have to say this is how I feel about this judgement but because the past judgement has weighed his weight it doesn't mean that this judgement did not go his way he should not speak out and already believe in and already expect so everyone that goes to court expects certain judgement and if it doesn't go your way and you look at it then you have the opportunity to say this is how I feel about this judgement and that is what he has done he has expressed himself to say this is how I feel about this as in Nigeria you have the right to say your mind and that is exactly what he has done given and pardon me if I am getting a bit personal about this given what I know to be your antecedents especially in our diaspora in the northern hemisphere I know you have lived in some respectable jurisdictions before coming back home to give your own contribution back to Nigeria given what I know to be your antecedents would you think this is proper in a respectable jurisdiction where a loser suddenly goes out there and lampooms and lampests the justices of the supreme court when he knows particularly I don't have the privilege of replying is that the responsible thing to do just asking you personally now okay thank you so much now I will now to use the same example that you have just referred to because I have just lived I have been living abroad for so many years before returning back to Nigeria and I just came back few days ago from America and you see what is happening now because you are in Nigeria does not give you the right not to speak you have the right to speak as in Nigeria the same way in America today from a president Trump is expressing himself about the judiciary about the judges in America so there is nothing wrong if you feel that you are right as an individual as the Trump of course or if you feel that the judgment that you express is not what you get then you have the right to express yourself to say that I am not happy with this judgment and I felt that this judgment should go in certain ways so it is within his right to express himself and he has done that so nobody can fault him for expressing himself give me the example you can now look at what he says to what justice that he does few days ago so you can now see that there is something wrong within the Supreme Court given the example that you have alluded to in America you will agree with me that the court in Georgia and the court in New York are both are both inflicting some degree of punishment on former president Trump for not being circumspect in his use of language about the proceedings in the two courts so and to be honest with you let's be very very frank with ourselves are you now using Trump as a standard character for a Nigerian politician to emulate or imitate so what I am saying is that as an individual you have started right under the law under the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria you have the freedom of speech to express yourself and all he has done is to express himself and he has not contravened any law and I know that if he has contravened any law by now you will have had sanctions from the Supreme Court the Supreme Court has the power to sanction so but they haven't done such that is to say that is within his right to say what he says and that is how we feel so every Nigerian has a right and freedom of speech so I don't think he has done anything wrong or against the law that is how you feel about the judgment and you cannot fault that okay for you for you is the case of of spanking a child and not expecting the child to cry is it if you say so but the reality is this there is no time that anyone goes to court whether at the cemetery level or at the governorship level that the governors or the senators do not have a view on the other if this should not be different at who is a former former presidential candidate candidate of PTP and by so doing is also a Nigerian who has certain right as well so he is not different from somebody who went to court and got certain judgment and said I am happy with the judgment then the others will say that I am happy with this judgment so he is still with him is right to express himself as a Nigerian under the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria so as the person who is fortunate to be in charge of the publicity machinery of the PDP in Lagos on arguably apart from the national the national publicity secretary of the party one would want to believe this is the most popular state you know most popular federating unit in Nigeria one would want to believe that they must have somebody who is capable in place in Lagos but I haven't said that as somebody who holds this position do you think it is proper for somebody as eminent as Vice President Atilku to be addressing a world, a so called world press conference twice in three weeks twice in less than one month nothing wrong like I said earlier on as a Nigerian and also as also the leader of the opposition in Nigeria so there is nothing wrong tomorrow if you have something to say in the country it can address the press conference don't forget it is the leader of the opposition now so by so doing if something is not right it is what this is right as a Nigerian to express himself and to say this is where my party is on this issue and so there is nothing wrong there is nothing wrong my brother okay let's come back now we cannot but engage you on the on the activities in Lagos as the PDP publicity circuitry what is your take of governance in Lagos today you can see the way Lagos is in Lagos and I have said this many time after about 24 years of APC government in Lagos that we should still be having flooding in Lagos the channels are all blown all these channels are supposed to have been cleared in preparation for the rainy season that is still there we still have security issue in Lagos we have the admiral issue in Lagos state which the government of Lagos state able to resolve the government of Lagos state get him involved with this admiral issue issue don't be the people of Lagos state wanted a governor who will look out for their needs to provide accommodation, good schools and the healthcare facilities all of them should be up and running we still don't have all of these done now the amount of money that is accrued to the state government on a monthly basis should be enough to turn Lagos around Lagos is supposed to be the mega city of Nigeria or Africa but where we are today there is no reason why we cannot be better than Dubai with the amount of money that the state government is generating in Lagos state and the kind of things that they are doing particularly for those see if you go to Lagos island today where Mr Babaji said go up go and look at what Lagos island is today look at what our job is today look at what some part of Sherry looks like today look at Leki you cannot be constructing an highway in Leki and people are stuck in traffic for 5-6 hours it is not done when you are constructing you keep one leg open so that the people can go you cannot be constructing doing both roads together at the same time Lagos state needs the Lagos state government needs to open all alternative roads in Lagos state so that we don't have what we have today if you want to go to a place today you cannot use it is so bad so what are we talking about what are we talking about is it the city the economy or the railway that makes Lagos I am not the mouthpiece of the government or the spokesperson of the ruling party but you want to agree with me that you want to agree with me that the traffic congestion you are talking about in Leki are very despicable in some respects I can't agree with you on that but you want to agree with me that is in the context of the fact that the road is being is being done and development actually also comes with some with some inconveniences you want to agree with me you want to agree with me that as somebody who just returned from the United States of America a couple of days ago you want to agree with me that even in this eninio season many may not know that we are having an unusual phenomenon that is called eninio and that is why we are still having rains in Lagos entering almost entering into November you know you agree with me that even in even in America where you are coming from especially in New York just the axis they have been flooding how would you respond to that thank you very much see let's take this axis that you will find Lagos State Government I don't think there is any projection for making axis now and this is why I said it we know that relocation of negotiations towards that axis is so high as of now people delays that we have in that axis with the kind of industries that are relocating to that area there is not even measure to be infrastructure that you have cannot even take the volume of development coming to that axis so the government needs to be ahead they need to be ahead of the development there should be a projection that in 10 years this is what this place will look like you understand now you are looking at that same road we still maintaining three lanes by now there is no reason we should not have a wider lane more lanes you are having this same road is the one that we need to admit the new the theme city that they are planning this same road is the one that is going to accommodate the new airport this same road is going to accommodate the new the volume of traffic that is going to come to that axis we need to prepare for it talk less what we have now I understand that there is a natural phenomenon right now about the ozone layer but the point is this are we ready what are we doing in preparation for that the government needs to have a forecast and then prepare for the rainy season not when the rainy season that is when you will be running up and down that is the better if we are well prepared that is the better place to leave it it is one of these things live by you that is the better place to leave it we hope to give the legal state governments an equal opportunity to come and defend themselves thank you for guesting on plus politics we really appreciate this thank you thank you so much for having me we are going to short break now when we are back we will take on issues in river state