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From David Onwuchekwa, Nnewi
As endless questions are still being thrown to the nation’s electoral umpire over the conduct and declaration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Bola Tinubu winner of the February 25 presidential election, democrats among legal luminaries have continued to express discomfort over the outcome of the election.
To this end, a senior lawyer from Nnewi Anambra State, Dr Okey Chidolue said, yesterday, that most ordinary men and women of goodwill in Nigeria, regardless of their party affiliation, saw the 2023 presidential election as unlawful and premeditated attempt to stifle and kill democracy in Nigeria, which he concurred as the true position.
In total and blind obedience to the law, according to him, this was why the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar were challenging the outcome of the election in Court. He said this was also why the Labour Party (LP) and its candidate, Mr Peter Obi, were challenging the outcome of same election, with emphasis on process.
Dr Chidolue declared that this was why Nigeria had become a laughing stock of the world with potential investors on their heels.
He said: “If Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had responsibly carried out its statutory duty, no responsible person or entity will be in court challenging the outcome of the election. Yes, an election need not be perfect. But all elections must be in substantial compliance with our Electoral Act. And, this is not the case.
“It is, therefore, inflammatorily insane for some banana-media-professionals and any-government-in-power-politicians to question the resolve of presidential election petitioners challenging an election adjudged by most local and international observers as fundamentally flawed. These selfish men of evil intent want Nigerians to ‘move forward’ like nothing happened. I vehemently disagree.
“For Edmund Burke and many, including my good self, ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing’.
“If good men does nothing, Nigeria will gradually slide into a ‘Wild Wild West’, a comfort zone for evil politicians that do not mean well for Nigeria. A Wild Wild West where the end justifies the means and where election fraudsters are the role models for Mmesoma and new generation Nigerians.
“Folks, the presidential election petitioners are the good men. And, they must be respected because if they don’t challenge an election result riddled with massive irregularities, Nigeria will surely degenerate into a Banana Republic.
“I will not join issues with Senior Advocates of the defendants who are strenuously trying to defend the indefensible. After all, lawyers are trained to zealously defend their clients, regardless. But there is a fine line between zealous advocacy and irresponsible utterances in court. And, telling a court not to rule against your client for fear of adverse reaction by government-in-power is an irresponsible lawyering that should attract serious sanction from the Bench.
“On a lighter note, in American Wild Wild West, a group of gangsters successfully robbed a liquor store but on their way out they were blocked by a single but well determined County Sheriff (Clint Eastwood) who in a common cowboy parlance told the gangsters that: ‘We’re not gonna let you boys get away from this store robbery’. The gangsters, full of laughter, asked him to explain what he meant by ‘We’ when he’s only a lone Sheriff. He gladly told them that they are three Sheriffs: himself, Smith & Wesson. Of note, Smith & Wesson is the most American popular revolver.
“So, Mr Peter Obi is the lone Sheriff with Atiku Abubakar, Livy Uzoegwu and a bunch of ordinary Nigerians that feel agrieved by unlawful and premeditated killing of democracy in Nigeria by the INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu and his co-conspiraors.
The jury is out”!!
