Former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party Chief Barnabas Gemade has urged President Muhammadu Buhari and Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmud Yakubu to ignore calls by former President Olusegun Obasanjo for the cancellation of Saturday, 25 February, 2023, presidential election.
Gemade who was addressing the press on Tuesday, 28 February, 2023, in Abuja, said Obasanjo was a meddlesome interloper who has nothing at stake in the election.
He said the calls for the cancellation of the elections by the former president was an assault on democracy and the rule of law which he described as an open incitement and call for anarchy.
He said, “This is a sad moment in the history of our country’s democracy. The people who moved against the wish of our people and annulled a free and fair election in the past are at work again.
“Gentlemen of the press, I invited you here because of the assault on our democracy and rule of law.”
Speaking further, he accused Obasanjo who benefitted from the democracy he did not struggle for of trying to set the nation backwards after 24 years of unbroken democratic rule.
“After 24 years of unbroken democratic rule, this is not the kind of thing we want to encounter. We cannot afford to allow the gains we have recorded to be frittered away by a few misguided people who neither worked for democracy nor believed in its principles.
“Unfortunately, this set of people reaped from democracy; they reaped from our sweat, from our Labour for democracy. They reaped bountifully from where they did not sow.
“I want to particularly speak to yesterday’s call former president Olusegun Obasanjo for the cancellation of a validly conducted election. It is shocking and unbelievable that a former leader of this country could by any stretch of imagination call for insurrection.
“Former President Obasanjo’s statement is an open incitement and invitation to anarchy however he laboured to garnish it. The former President is simply calling people out to take arms against the state. It’s an assault on our collective psyche. We must not allow Obasanjo to have his way. We must condemn him and his satanic and unpatriotic call. I strongly condemn his statement and I call on all well-meaning Nigerians and our security agencies to call him to order. Security agents must pay special attention to this man and his antics,” he added.
He further added that having conducted what could be described as the worst election in Nigeria’s history, Obasanjo was not qualified to question the credibility of an election.
“For the life of me, I find it difficult to understand why Obasanjo thinks he approximates the entire country. Why does he think he can decide for the country, or for the Nigerian people who have voted for a presidential candidate of their choice. Does Obasanjo understand what a transparent and credible election mean? Is he even qualified to talk about credibility in an election? Someone who corrupted our electoral system and through his protege, Professor Maurice Iwu, organised perhaps the most fraudulent election ever witnessed in this country. This was after he failed in his bid to get an unconstitutional third term in office.
“This former president wants to set standards for other leaders to follow. The truth is he has no standard or quality in his ways. What you find in his ways are indecency, dishonesty, deception, double face, treachery and wickedness. No one can give what he does not have. Obasanjo has been a thorn in the flesh of many presidents who came after him ostensibly for their refusal to hero worship him.
“Why does Obasanjo want to abort the baby that has already been born? Why does he want to visit violence on the country? Why does he want to plunge the country into anarchy? Because the fact is a winner has emerged from Saturday February 25 election that has been adjusted as free fair and credible by local and international observers.
“I urge President Buhari and INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmud Yakubu to ignore the unsolicited advice from Obasanjo who has become a meddlesome interloper in this matter. The INEC chairman should announce the remaining results of the election and bring the process to a close to save the nation from further anxiety and our people can move on.”
