The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi has described the recently held National Assembly and Presidential Election as an exhibition of motion without movement in the political trajectory of Nigeria.
He however expressed utmost confidence in Nigeria’s judiciary despite many controversial rulings on some matters.
Obi speaking as a guest at the Channels Television’s Sunrise Programme on Thursday, said that his confidence is drawn from the fact that the Justices are Nigerians and are aware of how bad the situation has been in the country and only truth and justice will save this country.
“They, the Justices desire a better Nigeria for themselves and their children and that can only come through doing the right thing and telling the people the truth of any situation,” Obi said.
“For me, I have no cause to doubt the courts. It’s we the politicians that are bent on corrupting every aspect of our national life.”
Obi however, berated the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over its failure to transmit results of the presidential election in real-time via its portal, saying the conduct of the 2023 exercise has downgraded the country.
“We have seen probably what I consider the worst election in our recent history because of the Electoral law [Act] of 2022 which gave so much hope and the huge expenditure we put into technology,” the former Anambra State governor said.
All these he said happened despite the humungous amount budgeted for the election, the exercise did not yield to expectations.
“Do you know what it means to spend over $1bn? So, there was so much that was promised and then we went back to what it used to be. For me, that is very devastating.”
“Everybody paid so much emphasis on the law and the technology,” he maintained, describing the failures of the exercise as “when you promise so much and don’t even meet the minimum”.
“Whenever there is an election announced globally, what it does is that it uplifts the ratings of that society,” Obi said during the show.
He indicated that the conduct of the presidential election has further dampened the morale of youths who had so much hope in the process.
On what his reaction will be if the nation decides to go on with the statusque, Obi said he would be shocked if the country goes on with the rascality of criminality in perpetuity
The former Anambra state Governor said it’s disheartening that the giant of Africa cannot deliver a simple election when small nations like Ghana can deliver with a small error margin and big nations like India also deliver with less than a five percent error margin.
Obi reiterated his earlier position that what the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, declared is false, pointing out that he’s challenging the process and the declaration.
“My trust in INEC has evaporated with what they did on February 25, setting out a rule for the election and abandoning it in the middle of the game. He said that the majority of Nigerians have declared a vote of no confidence on INEC because everybody saw that they promised so much and could not deliver even the minimum.
The LP standard bearer likened what INEC did on February 25 to a restaurant promising a sumptuous meal, serving the a la carte but failing to bring the main meal.
The LP candidate, who has challenged the declaration of Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the exercise, is, however optimistic about getting justice.
“I am not hurt or saddened personally but I am for my country and the future it portends for the young ones and the future generation because we can’t go on this way,” he said. “We must build and bequeath them a better future.”
Obi said he is “on course” to getting justice.
Obi urged his supporters to vote for Labour Party candidates in their states, and where there is no candidate they should vote with a new Nigeria in mind, looking out for competence, character, capacity, and capabilities. (Guardian)
