Protesters under the auspices of The Natives, have cautioned the presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and that of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, against cowing the judiciary and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) into doing their bidding on the outcome of the 2023 presidential election.
The protesters were reacting to recent threats by candidates of the PDP and LP, who after rejecting the results of the presidential poll, have resorted to protests to the commission’s headquarters.
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The Natives made the warning during a thank-you walk to the presidential villa in Abuja.
The protest rally had representatives of National Association of the Nigerian Students (NANS) and other various youth groups who caused a temporary traffic gridlock, as vehicles had a hard time driving through the Federal Secretariat to presidential villa.
Speaking during the walk, Supreme Leader of the Natives, Hon. Smart Edwards, warned that the supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, will no longer take lightly the intimidation by the supporters of Peter Obi (Obidients) and supporters of the Atiku Abubakar (Atikulated).
Edwards said if PDP, LP and their candidates have grievances against the results as declared by the INEC they should go to court instead of threatening the peace of the Nation and her democratic process.
Describing the PDP as a National Rigging Organisation, Edwards said, “The Obidients should understand that Asiwaju is a political juggernaut and election strategist. They were all part of the plan because the candidature of Peter Obi was an asset to the APC. The Obidients made Tinubu’s victory easy, they all made it possible. Ordinarilyy, it should have been Obi or Tinubu. Tinubu was not in the best position to steal the election but he planned well and worked vigorously for the victory.
“We also have a message for the PDP candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar; Your Excellency, it is your time to test the court and not to intimidate the court. It is your time to retreat and retire, or reset and re-contest again if your party is not tired of you.
“Your inability to be consistent in a party like Bola Ahmed Tinubu, shows it is all about you alone. No sir, the Supreme Court is not about you, the Appeal Court is not about you, even the Tribunal is not about you, it is about rule of law.
“So, today we are putting the Nation on notice that no one will be allowed to intimidate the Nigerian Judiciary any longer, we will not entertain it. These judges and the judiciary are the most crucial party of the hope that the democracy holds.
“We want to say categorically that Bola Ahmed Tinubu of APC won the election. The Lagos state he lost should have been a taboo but the Democrat in him publicly accepted the outcome without calling for anybody’s head.”
The Natives applauded INEC for a job weldon, saying no election all over the world is devoid of itches, even as they alleged that some PDP elements made efforts to bribe some INEC officials without success.
“INEC must be allowed to do their work without molestation. Nobody is talking about the recorded voices of the PDP players which went viral recently where they were scheming to bribe or corner the INEC officials.
“To INEC, therefore, you have done well. Please go ahead with the conduct of Saturday’s governorship election as we look forward to a large turnout rather than apathy we witnessed during the presidential election,” Edwards added.
The group also commended President Muhammadu Buhari for allowing a free, fair and credible election that produced Tinubu as president-elect.
They called for cooperation to move Nigeria forward, just they urged Nigerians to give Tinubu the chance to reset the country in a way that would benefit them.