Former President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday broke his silence on the conduct and outcome of the 2019 general election, even as he hailed the declaration by the Osun State Gubernatorial Election Tribunal that the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Ademola Adeleke was indeed, the governor-elect of the September 27, 2018 poll.
Obasanjo said that the declaration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) against Adeleke was a desperate attempt to change the will of the Osun people.
The former president in a statement Saturday also condemned those urging Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president and candidate of the PDP in last month’s presidential election, not to go to court, stating that such calls were coming from the “enemies of Nigeria” and those seeking to intimidate Nigerians by threatening violence.
Atiku had rejected the outcome of the February 23 polls, alleging fraud and rigging in favour of President Muhammadu Buhari.
He asked the court to overturn the result and declare him president-elect, defying calls to concede defeat.
While such calls have publicly come from mostly Buhari’s supporters, some groups have suggested a potential legal victory for Atiku could trigger unrest in the country.
Those groups have therefore, argued a preference for a stable Nigeria at the cost of any merit Atiku’s claim may have.
However, in his first public comments on the election, Obasanjo, who backed Atiku for the top job, attacked such suggestions coming from those who “call themselves our development partners and friends”.
“Those who have conceived and are promoting the narrative that if Atiku Abubakar continues to seek legal redress there will be violence, are evil minds looking for excuse to unleash violence on Nigerians,” he said.
“At no time in history has sustainable peace been built on theft, injustice, corruption and inequity. These merchants of chaos and violence should have no place in any decent society. And they must know that no intimidation or prophesy of violence and doomsday will cow anybody.”
He took a swipe at Buhari, stressing that the incumbent President thrice challenged the results of presidential elections he contested in the past.
According to the statement, “Let me also commend Senator Adeleke for his statesmanship in going to court to seek justice. This is the right and proper thing to do in any decent society. Going to court must be encouraged and not discouraged as some people are now attempting to do.
“While I have refrained from commenting on the 2019 elections because one of the parties has gone to court, may I point out that those who call themselves our development partners and friends and preach sacrificing justice on the altar of so-called stability are enemies of justice, democracy and Nigeria.
“We will continue to sustain Nigeria in stability and unity on the altar of justice, equity, fairness, freedom, human rights and democracy. Stability cannot be successfully built on injustice, corruption, inequity, and divided nation, and incompetence, nepotism and one-sidedness.
“Nigeria will march forward with or without those who will want to feed us with diet of values and actions that are not acceptable in their own countries. Nigeria is of age. And if Buhari could go to court three times to seek justice, even without reasonable cause, any Nigerian who feels denied of justice must feel free to go to court”.
Iniobong Iwok with agency report
