Atiku Abubakar of the PDP and Peter Obi of LP have both petitioned the Elections Petitions Tribunal against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the APC, who was declared the winner of the Presidential election, in separate instances.
The key points of their petitions are: Bola Tinubu was not qualified to contest the election on the grounds of discrepancies in his profile and corruption allegations; the Vice President-elect, Kashim Shettima, was not qualified to contest as Vice President, being an elected senatorial candidate of the APC at the same time; the election was void as it substantially contravened the procedures in the 1999 constitution of Nigeria and the Electoral Acts.
Bola Tinubu and leaders of the APC on their own party have coined a phrase in response to every disagreement with the election results- “Go to Court!”.
But this phrase is not made out of respect for the judiciary or the rule of law.
It is a display of confidence that opposition parties cannot get justice from the court. After all, the Buhari/APC regime is notorious for having the highest record of disobeying court orders, and judicial manipulations.
It is however important to note that the internal conflict within the ruling class is not about demolishing the system that allows for charade as an election but more about how to manipulate the system in their favour.
Working-class people must not allow themselves to be drawn to the sides of these oppressor-politicians. None of them has our interests at heart. The primary issue at stake goes beyond the rigging of elections. It is about how we liberate ourselves from this class of exploiters. Even the court cannot give that to us. It is through mass resistance to their anti-poor people policies, mass revolt, and a revolutionary movement of the people that we can emancipate ourselves and build a better Nigeria.
by Lekan Abdul-Azeez SONEYE
