Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said three to five judges should not overturn decisions made by millions of voters during an election.
He said this in wake of the ongoing judgements on the electoral disputes while speaking at the high-level consultation on Rethinking Western Liberal Democracy in Africa held at the Presidential Library, Ogun State.
“I believe whatever form of democracy we have or whatever system of government we have, three or four men in the judiciary should not be able to overturn the decisions of millions that have voted,” Obasanjo said.
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“Now, we have to find a way to handle that. I don’t know what the way will be but, for me, I think it’s totally unacceptable that millions (of votes), maybe 10m on one side, maybe 9 million on the other side.
“Then, you have five people sitting down, three of them agree, two disagree. And you come up and make cathedral pronouncements that cannot be changed, I believe that should not be accepted,” he said.
Last week, three governors were Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State, Abba Kabir Yusuf in Kano, and Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau State, were sacked in separate judgements delivered by the judges of the Court of Appeal.
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Obasanjo faulted the verdicts of the Nigerians judges on the electoral disputes, by describing the powers vested in the hands of a few judges as ‘totally unacceptable.’
Obasanjo labeled it ‘cathedral pronouncements’ by the judges.
“How do we do it? I don’t know. But whatever form of democracy we have, we should look at how to handle this. If you say go again for election, then, what happened to the previous election? I don’t know,” he stated.
