…Advises Resort To Rule Of Law
Renowned socio-political activist and critic, Chief Adesunbo Onitiri, has admonished those behind the ongoing organised protests at Abuja against the swearing-in of the President-elect on May 29, not to disrupt the programme.
He averred that if they do, they would be fanning the embers of disunity and discord, urging that they should allow the court to decide their petitions.
Onitiri said this in a press statement he personally signed and made available to newsmen in Lagos yesterday, warning that “democrats in the country would not allow another June 12 imbroglio to happen.”
Onitiri insisted that the 2023 presidential election has been held and a winner emerged, adding, “Now that the losers have gone to court, they should wait for the court to decide and not to engage in self-help that would throw the country into tumult.”
He said that the Abuja protest is another way towards installing an interim government which democrats in the country would resist.
The social critic advised former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Mr Peter Obi to caution their parties supporters not to forment trouble that will set Nigeria ablaze or backward.
Insisting that the Abuja protest, if allowed to be hijacked by hoodlums, was capable of aborting the current Nigeria’s hard-earned fledging democracy, Onitiri also expressed concern that the way and manner politicians who lost in the presidential election were pursuing their alleged ‘lost mandate’ posed serious danger to the survival of the nation.
He said, “As one of the activists who fought and put their lives on the line to install the present fledgling democracy, the democrats would not allow a group of politicians to pull the nation down.
“The February 25th elections have come and gone. A winner has been declared. Let us all put the elections behind us and move on to salvage the country. Election should not be a do-or-die affair as Obi and Atiku are reacting aggressively to their losses.”
He noted that the bitterness and rancour being exhibited over the last presidential election were becoming unbearable to the democrats and other Nigerians and should be checkmated before they explode.
He continued, “It’s only God that can install a leader or President of a country. As democrats, we are all winners and in the interest of our nation, we must move on peacefully and in love.”
Onitiri emphasized further that Nigeria belongs to us all and we have no other country we can call our own, adding, “As a stakeholder and concerned democrat, I wish to implore aggrieved presidential candidates to employ all peaceful means to express their grievances within the confines of the law and our constitution.
“Let the petitioners emulate the shinning example of former President Goodluck Jonathan, who conceded victory to President Muhammadu Buhari before the conclusion of the 2015 presidential election, and said his victory at the polls didn’t require the blood of any Nigerians.
“We do not want to set our beloved country on fire like what’s happening in Sudan. No patriotic Nigerian will want to destroy our country because of power game.”
