INEC election begets illegality that begets us US sanctions that begets illegitimacy, By Odo Ijere
THE social media yesterday was ecstatic and agog with news of US visa bans of Nigerians who in one form or the other aided and abetted various forms of electoral malfeasance, impetuousness, impunity, violence, ethnic profiling, disenfranchisement, oppression, voter suppression and plethora of vices that undermined the 2023 elections.
This followed the unanimous conclusion by the international community that the election that was so comprehensively undermined by distortions amid vagaries of undemocratic ethos could not have given birth to anything near a democratically acceptable outcomes.
The bastion of democracy, the United States are once again leading the pack in defense of democratic values in Nigeria. Soon to follow will be the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada and most other western nations who practice true democracy. A touch on anyone will amount to a touch on all.
Nigeria with about 200 million people is not only a leading democracy in the world but an important one at that and which must be defended at all cost. The international community cannot afford to abandon Nigeria at this time in the hands of a few rascals pushing to plunge the nation into strife and chaos. The time to act has finally come.
Democracy is a very important subject matter that cannot be left with any one nation to grapple with in isolation because of so called sovereign status. It takes the conference of nations States working together to bring erring nations to shape. Nigeria and its INEC has refused to put its act together and therefore fallen short of the irreducible minimum standards.
INEC and Yakubu has betrayed the trust of Nigerians and the international community through conducting the worst ever election in 2023 with the most unacceptable outcomes. Therefore the sanctions must come howsoever. We have to deal with it.
As we enter this regime of sanctions, the pedagogues who are bent on rubbing our injuries with more pepper by planning to conduct illegal swearing in of their illegally declared President Elect are advised to think again and halt their cruising locomotive train before its imminent crashing.
Planning to hold a swearing in on the 29th of May does not hold water when the basic and irredeemable constitutional requirement of 25% of FCT is boldly seen as a gapping hole and a loophole too many to ignore.
The IG of police threatening to deal with dissent is hardly a solution to the problem that will come with the resort to extra constitutional measures being adopted to swear in an illegal President elect. The crisis will be so gargantuan.
The signals from the US state department is already indicative of the illegitimacy of the May 29th swearing in ceremony. World leaders may refuse to show up as is the usual tradition at times of swearing in of new presidents.
It is necessary to further advise those pedagogues with libidinal dissonance pushing this illegal process that since the matter is in the court, let the Supreme justices adjudicate the issue of swearing in to the pleasure of both the Lord justices and the international community.
Nigeria is still the only practicing democracy where someone is sworn into office while the case challenging his official status is still in court. It is not too late for us to start to do the right thing.
Swearing in of Tinubu on the 29th May without first being acquitted of accusations surrounding his declaration as winner of the 25th February, Presidential election will cloth his regime with illegitimacy deriving from its unconstitutionality.
This will create unnecessary instability and also attract more and needless international sanctions. This one cruise is not worth catching at all.
