Senator Dino Melaye, the Peoples Democratic Party’s gubernatorial candidate in Kogi State, has conveyed his decision not to contest the electoral triumph of the All Progressives Congress at the state election petition tribunal.
Following the Independent National Electoral Commission’s declaration of Usman Ododo, the APC candidate, as the winner of the November 11 governorship election in the state, Senator Melaye, who secured the third position, voiced concerns on Wednesday. He alleged that the judiciary has lost its independence and now functions as a department of the APC.
Dino stated, “Judiciary is no longer the last hope of the ordinary people, it is now a department under the All Progressives Congress. Why should any responsible person go to the tribunal when the APC have captured the judiciary?
“I have lost complete confidence in the judiciary.”
Dino said the judiciary is supposed to be the last line of defence of democracy and the rule of law
“Regrettably, however, the judiciary itself has been on trial due to its tragic and glaring inability to inspire confidence and trust in its handling of electoral matters.
“No discerning observer, no matter how charitable, can avoid the conclusion that the Judiciary seems to have become a willing and potent tool in the hands of powerful forces that are bent on subverting democracy in Nigeria,” he added.
The PDP Kogi State Governorship candidate said the common saying that the judiciary is the last hope of aggrieved citizens is now an empty slogan because the judiciary is rapidly turning into the lost hope of the people of Nigeria.
He stated, “That is why I will not dignify a captured judiciary by filing a petition over Kogi Governorship election where majority of the results were written before the election day by INEC officials under the watch of Professor Mahmood Yakubu.
“Why should any reasonable Nigerian go to the tribunal when the Judiciary has been captured and members of a Political Party openly dare the would-be victims of their infernal rigging machine to go to court?
“Why should other political parties and Nigerians participate in future elections with the consolidation of grip and total control of INEC through the appointment of APC card-carrying members as Commissioners into INEC who will recruit APC supporters as poll officials?
Dino alleged that the way the State Independent Electoral Commission is constituted by governors with party members and supporters is what is now being brazenly applied to INEC at the federal level.
He stated, “In the light of the foregoing, I Senator Dino MeIaye have decided in good conscience not to submit myself to a judiciary that has become an instrument of political tyranny. Just as Pa Awolowo declared after the 1983 rigged elections when asked why he refused to go to the tribunal. Our sage said that he would not because “the judiciary is corrupt and will not do justice”
“I will not go to court because justice has been murdered by the judiciary in Nigeria.
“I use this opportunity to call on all opposition political parties of Nigeria to forthwith boycott all future elections unless and until the current INEC constituted by APC members is dissolved and a new set of nonpartisan, Chairman and Commissioners are appointed into INEC.”
