A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Kabiru Marafa, has said the non-interference of President Bola Tinubu in the judgment of the Supreme Court on governorship tussles has rekindled hope in the judiciary and saved the country’s democracy.
Marafa, the Zamfara State Coordinator of the Campaign Council of President Tinubu and Senator Kashim Shettima during the 2023 general elections, while reacting to Friday’s judgments of the apex court in a statement he signed and issued in Abuja, on Monday, said President Tinubu and the justices of the apex court have lived up to the expectations of Nigerians, adding that posterity will judge them well for allowing the will of the Nigerian voters to prevail.
“It is a welcome development. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has by this singular action of non-interference in the Supreme Court judgement saved the country’s democracy and forestalled the repeat of the 1983 scenario. You will recall that it was after the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) grabbed states that were hitherto of the opposition that the Second Republic collapsed,” he said.
Marafa, who represented Zamfara Central Senatorial District between 2011 and 2019, said the outcome of the apex court’s decision on the governorship elections has reinforced his belief in the ability and capacity of the judiciary to right any wrong in the political evolution.
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He recalled a similar incident during the buildup to the 2019 general elections in which he was then the leading contender for the governorship ticket of the APC in Zamfara State.
“I protested the conduct of the kangaroo primaries and the imposition of candidates by the then governor, Abdulaziz Yari, the judiciary stood up to the occasion and delivered a landmark judgment that gave the whole state to the PDP, the opposition party,” he recalled.
He urged the eight governors, whose elections were affirmed on Friday, to be magnanimous, just and fair in governing their respective states, while specifically congratulating Zamfara State Governor Dauda Lawal and urging him to work to justify the confidence reposed on him by the people of the state.
In a related development, the Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC) also commended President Tinubu for his commitment to the independence of the judiciary and the principles of the rule of law following the recent Supreme Court judgements on state governorship elections.
The National Chairman of IPAC, Yusuf Dantalle, on Monday in a statement, said Tinubu deserved commendation for his neutrality in the legal process.
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