The Pan Niger Delta Forum has dismissed a report that it asked lawyers to the presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party and the Labour Party to apologize to their clients in the wake of the judgment of the Presidential Elections Petition Court which on Wednesday, affirmed the election of President Bola Tinubu.
A statement signed by PANDEF’s National Publicity Secretary, Ken Robinson in Abuja on Tuesday recalled a telephone conversation between him and a reporter of one of the national dailies (not The PUNCH) about the subject matter, adding that the reporter twisted it for personal motives.
The statement read, “The attention of the PANDEF, has been drawn to a news article of 8th September 2023 captioned “Tribunal Defeat: ‘You didn’t do a good job,’ which reported that PANDEF asked lawyers to apologize to their clients.
“For clarity and to correct the misrepresentation, I obliged a brief telephone interview with a correspondent on Thursday, 7th September 2023 during which he asked about PANDEF’s reaction to the Presidential Election Petition Court’s judgment on the petitions by the Labour Party and the People’s Democratic Party’s presidential candidates, Peter Obi and former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar. The correspondent was told that PANDEF’s interest is the unity, peace, and development of the country and the nation’s democracy, and urged those dissatisfied with the judgment to explore the avenue of appeal.
“Unfortunately, a personal fringe observation was taken out of context and misquoted in the news article.
“It is important to restate that the referenced news report did not reflect the stance of the PANDEF, on the judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Court and therefore, should be ignored.”
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