In less than 48 hours to the long awaited judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, in the petitions challenging the declaration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as winner of the February 25, 2023 presidential election, a former Deputy National Chairman, DNC, South, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Olabode George had charged the tribunal to let the people’s 2ill prevail.
George, a former military governor of old Ondo State made the call on Monday during an interactive session with the press in his office, in Ikoyi, Lagos, saying that the judiciary should not be the one to determine the winner of any election, but the people.
Chief George recalled, “Our country has been doing very little positively and very much negatively. In the last few days, I have been thinking, as a former military officer and as a civilian since I have served five presidents, “We are derailing, the British came and merged us together for their own economic gains, but the separation could have been ideal. We saw the positivity of the first democratic dispensation.
“Unfortunately, it is that same national government which the military junta of General Aguiyi-Ironsi, which everybody rejected that we are running to date.
“The 1999 constitution, who prepared it? The constitution is not working. Thank God, President Goodluck Jonathan came with an amendment, but where is the report? If you are in government and people are not happy, your representation is called to question.”
Specifically making reference to the last general elections, George noted, “Our electoral process is shambolic, nonsensical and make the country to be nosediving. It is the manipulation of the system.
“A glitch on the day of the election is unforgivable, but the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, chairman told us they were ready, but with what happened, generation to come will never forgive him.
“The most contentious issue in Nigeria today is the judiciary, it is one of the pillars of government. Is it right for the judiciary to tell us who won or lost the election? What we understand by democracy is government of the people by the people and for the people, but in our own case, we have been having government if the judiciary, by the judiciary and for the judiciary, and it shouldn’t be government of the judiciary by the judiciary and for the judiciary. Is that democratic?
“It is the will of the people that should prevail. If you discover any wrong, then ask them to go back and conduct fresh election, even if it takes hundred times. The job of the judiciary is not to tell us who lost or who won.”
He argued further, “Adjudication centres on fairness and justice. This is something that affects the people. All eyes, all over the world are on Nigeria, because democracy is the voice of the people.”
Explaining why the PDP landed on the canvass in the last election, George said that it was self-inflicted, arguing that the time is nigh for the party to return to the drawing table, tell itself some home truths and rejuvenate.
The former chairman of the board of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, said that in South Africa, individuals don’t vie for elective positions, but parties, adding that it is only after the election that the winning party will select who will hold which position.
