Nigerian presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, who failed in his attempt to get the result of February’s election overturned in the Supreme Court last Thursday expressed concern about the future of Nigeria.
He said “If the Supreme Court decides that the electoral umpire, INEC, can tell the public one thing and then do something else in order to reach a corruptly predetermined outcome, then there is really no hope for the country’s democracy and electoral politics.”
It could be recalled that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced that president Bola Tinubu won the election with thirty-seven percent of votes cast, against twenty-nine percent for Mr Abubakar and twenty-five percent for Peter Obi, who also challenged the result.
In his first comments since the panel of seven judges rejected his attempts to get what he said was new evidence submitted, Mr Abubakar said that there is really no hope for the country’s democracy and electoral politics.
He said the judgments of the election tribunal and the Supreme Court have very far-reaching grave implications.
In his words “When people lose trust and confidence in elections, democracy is practically on life support. And by affirming and legitimizing the continued lack of transparency in our electoral system the courts are continuing to usurp the rights of voters to elect their leaders.”
“The other grave implication is that contestants in Nigeria’s elections should do whatever is necessary to be declared the winner. That includes identity theft, impersonation, forging of educational and other documents, perjury, and violence.
RoyalTimes further stated that the former vice president however promised to continue to strive with other concerned Nigerians to deepen democracy in the country.
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