A chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party, Segun Showunmi, has explained that the Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in the 2023 elections, Atiku Abubakar, is challenging the outcome of the February 25, 2023 election because of his avowed commitment to democracy.
Showunmi said this in an interview with journalists in Abuja on Sunday.
According to him, as a democrat, Atiku will always stick to the tenets of democracy which is hinged on constitutional order and the rule of law.
The PDP chieftain urged the Nigerian judiciary to uphold the time tested principle of respect for the sanctity of facts and ensure that justice is not only done but also seen to be done.
Showumi said: “Atiku has done no harm; he is a Democrat. The only thing Atiku has done is that he has chosen to remain a Democrat.
“You know those who don’t care if the heavens fall while they are in opposition, Not doing it, as they did, is because he is a democrat.
“The entire world and even the ancestors that have gone are eagerly awaiting this judgment.
“Sometimes, the judiciary has a mediating responsibility to stabilize the society. However, the judiciary cannot stabilize the society against the perception by the generality of the people of that society.
“If it is the general opinion of the people that something is fundamentally wrong, the judiciary has to let the society understand that it is not called the last bastion of all persons for no reason.”
Reflecting on the disruption of democratic order in some African countries over the past few years, the PDP chieftain noted that the society must expect a reaction anytime the will of the people is usurped by powerful forces.
He further said, “We should let the judiciary know that if democracy is failing all around us in Mali, Niger Republic, Burkina Faso, and Guinea among others, it is because people are beginning to feel that there is no rescue anywhere for their will.
“Normally, it is the judiciary that is supposed to rescue the will of the people. We must remember that national cohesion is better than performance sometimes because you cannot perform at the expense of the critical stakeholders of the Nigerian project.
“We need to remind our society that this country became independent on the backbone of three persons.
“A South-Western man, the Hausa-Fulani man and an Igbo man,” he added, even as he aimed a veiled dig at President Tinubu who has been quoted many times for asking Nigerians to endure the pain of subsidy removal from petrol.
“You cannot be telling the society to endure when you have not cured illegality. Young people have the oxymoron, “Eyes on the judiciary’ but the truth of the matter is that the judiciary is not immune from what is going on in the society.
“ Wives and children of judicial officers are not immune from what is going on in the society. Sometimes, the will of the people is by extension, the will of God.
“The only thing they can do not to stand against God is to rule in the best interest of their conscience and the mortality of their judgment because it will be quoted over time.
“The entire world is looking at Nigeria and they are not going to be ashamed to do the right thing. If democracy fails, we can patch it up with the judiciary but if the judiciary fails, that society has failed.”
