A chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Olabode George, has raised questions over the role of the judiciary in determining election winners in Nigeria.
The former Deputy National Chairman of the PDP urged the judiciary not to take away the right of the people to determine poll winners.
He expressed this worry at a press briefing held in his office in Ikoyi on Monday following the announcement by the President Election Petition Tribunal in Abuja that it would deliver its judgment on Wednesday.
In a statement on Monday, the tribunal announced it would deliver judgment on Wednesday on the petitions challenging the declaration of Bola Tinubu as the winner of the 2023 presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
However, Geoge in his briefing queried the rationale behind the judiciary making pronouncements to determine election winners instead of INEC to re-conduct the elections to aid the emergence of real winners.
He said, “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.
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“Our electoral process is shambolic, nonsensical, and makes the country nosediving. It is the manipulation of the system.
“A glitch on the day of the election is unforgivable but the INEC chairman told us they were ready but with what happened, generations 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 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, ask them to go back and conduct a fresh election even if it takes a hundred times. The job of the judiciary is not to tell us who lost or who won.”
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