Don’t be Used to Abort Polls, Afenifere Tells Judiciary

The Pan-Yoruba socio-political organization, Afenifere, on Monday, urged the judiciary not to allow itself to be used to abort the genereal elections.

It also called on the government and all stakeholders to ensure that there is no change in the conduct of the elections and the handing-over date on May 29, 2023.

Afenifere, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Jare Ajayi noted that the February/March elections are imperative partly due to a warning that the court may be used to thwart the election process.

It would be recalled that the ACF Director of Publicity and Advocacy, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed last week disclosed that there were insinuations that the planned elections may not hold, “and some kind of unconstitutional contraption may be forced on Nigerians after May this year.”

The statement reads: “The contrived pains can be seen in the unabated insecurity, heightened difficulties in getting fuel, in getting new Naira notes and in getting other energy sources such as electricity, gas, kerosene and diesel. If the difficulties being experienced in these areas continued and Nigerians begin to react, their (peaceful) expression of frustration may be used as an excuse to want to tinker with the democratic experiment going on. Such would not be acceptable in any way.

“Nigerians will not accept to live under any arrangement that offends the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“In spite of the fact that Afenifere has been strident in its call for a constitution that will usher in a restructured Nigeria, for now, citizens have no choice other than to abide by the constitutional provisions especially on how to change governments in the country – which is through the electoral process as well as peaceful handing-over to the winner.

“Afenifere calls on the Judiciary not to allow itself to be used to imperil democracy through unhelpful and perhaps frivolous litigations such as the one brought by one Chief Ambrose Albert Owuru wanting to stop the forthcoming presidential election. Luckily, the case which was heard by Honourable Justice Inyang Edem Ekwo of a Federal High Court in Abuja was dismissed on Monday.”