A spokesperson for Bola Tinubu (President-elect), Mr Bayo Onanuga, has warned the duo of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the Labour Party, LP, to stop blackmailing the judiciary.

Onanuga alleged that both parties and their surrogates, whom he described as lawyers, clerics and some ethnic groups, had “mounted a desperate campaign for the postponement of the inauguration of the President-elect on May 29.

He insisted that the 2023 election was the best and the most free, fair and transparent since the second republic.

In a statement issued via his Twitter handle on Monday, Onanuga tackled the emeritus Catholic Bishop of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan for his claim that the election was rigged, saying the claim was nothing but a lie and a malicious propaganda told repeatedly by the opposition parties and their supporters.

His statement is coming on the heels of the commencement of sitting by the presidential election petition tribunal on Monday.

The spokesman claimed that introduction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, made a significant difference in the 2023 elections, which he described as the best since the return to democracy in 1999.

Onanuga said those criticizing the electoral commission on account of the non-transmission of the results recorded at the polling units were being mischievous.

He insisted it was because “the outcome of the election, especially the presidential election did not match their expectation.”

Part of his statement read: “PDP and LP must stop the blackmail against the judiciary

“I have witnessed many elections since 1979 and I can say without any equivocation that the 2023 election was the best, the most free and fair, the most transparent.

“Those who are pillorying the election and INEC, the electoral umpire are simply saying so because the outcome of the election, especially the presidential election did not match their expectation.

The Labour Party and the PDP and their surrogates, some of them lawyers, clerics and some ethnic groups have also mounted desperate campaigns for the postponement of the inauguration of the President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu on 29 May.

“As the tribunal begins sitting today, let Labour and its senior partner, the PDP stop further blackmail of the judiciary. Enough is Enough.”