Lucky Obukohwo Reporting
A Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress in Edo State, John Mayaki, has raised the alarm over an alleged plot by the opposition, including Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party, to stall the inauguration of the President-Elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and illegally supplant the democratic choice of Nigerians in the presidential elections.
Mayaki, the Chairman of the Edo State Media and Publicity Directorate of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, alleged this in a Saturday statement where he warned against the action with claims that it would throw the country into an intractable crisis and force ordinary Nigerians to “defend their choice by whatever means against the usurpers who are unwilling to make peace with their defeat.”
According to him, “these opposition political parties are orchestrating a diabolic arrangements to truncate the country’s democracy. Having lost the presidential election, the Labour Party has now rejoined its parent party, the PDP, and together they are plotting an unconstitutional overthrow of the ballots.”
“They huffed and puffed for days, boasting that they have the evidence to prove their spurious allegations of rigging and other electoral malpractices in court. But after due consultation with serious legal experts, and with the mockery that trailed their laughable petitions, they have since realized the futility of the suit, and are thus seeking other illegal means to block the emergence of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”
“The opposition is not only inciting Nigerians to continue to protest and calling for the annulment of the election, they have been spreading hate and inciting Nigerians to make sure that the President-elect is not sworn-in. They haven’t stopped there, they have also made the judiciary the target of their attack in a dangerous attempt to intimidate the institution and sow the seeds of nonexistent bias that in the mind of its headless mob.”
“When you hear inciting comments capable of setting the country on fire from those who want to lead the country, when you see opposition leaders casting aspersions on the institutions of state such as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the judiciary, when you see people calling for the cancellation of the presidential election because they lost out and when you see people protesting the result of the election while in court, it simply tells you that something sinister is in the offing; they are doing everything possible to make sure that there’s no peaceful handover and then, possibly truncate democracy in the country.”
“Let me state here that Nigerians have spoken through the ballot and have chosen their next leader in the person of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Senator Kashim Shettima. Any attempt through any means by enemies of the country to derail our democracy will be resisted. The ambition of a few persons should not be a threat to the peaceful coexistence and unity of the country. We will resist any attempt to truncate democracy in Nigeria,” Mayaki said.