Chief Olabode George, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has condemned the new tendency of judges to upturn the election victory of politicians.
He made his comments in reaction to the controversy surrounding the Appeal Court verdict in Kano State.
The appellate court had nullified the election of Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano State while declaring Gawuna the winner of the governorship election in the state.
But in a twist of events, when the Certified True Copy, CTC, of the judgement, was released it showed that the Appeal Court affirmed Yusuf as Kano governor.
The Appeal Court had attributed the discrepancy to a clerical error.
Reacting to this, George said it was sad to see that Nigerians no longer trust the judiciary.
Addressing a press conference in Lagos, the PDP chieftain said:
“This system is worrisome because if the people don’t believe in the third arm of government anymore, anarchy looms.
“Obviously, the unholy alliances between some politicians and judges are dangerous to our democracy. Millions of people will come out on the day of the election, queue, collect ballot papers, and cast their votes for their preferred candidates, results will be announced, and everybody will jubilate only for three, five, or seven judges to upturn the popular will of the people.
“The best the judiciary must do in political cases is to adjudicate, and where there are discrepancies, order a rerun without giving victory to party A or B.
“It is wrong to remove the power of the electorate to elect political leaders and for the judiciary to tell us who the winners are. This is not good for Nigeria. This is not good for our electoral system. A compromised judiciary is dangerous.”
