Convener/National Coordinator of a socio-political organisation, Social Rehabilitation Gruppe (SRG), Dr. Marindoti Oludare, has tasked all security organs of government to work assiduously towards ensuring a hitch-free handing over of government to the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, come May 29.
Oludare who gave the charge in a statement on Sunday, said the alarm raised by the Department of State Service (DSS) that some groups were plotting to instigate violence ahead of the May 29 handing-over should not be taken lightly.
He traced the plot to truncate the Democratic process to losers in the presidential election, urging that they should be reined in.
“It is with great concern that I have watched the post-election agitations and instigations in my dear country. I find most disturbing the decision of the losers of the election to resort to making reckless highly incendiary comments about the results of the last election in an attempt to truncate a peaceful transfer of power. I guess to them it is a case of “Kàkà ké-kuú ma jẹ sèsé, á fi sàwàdànù” (if the rat does not eat the pigeon pea, he will throw it away).
“Maybe because they never participated in the fight for democracy, they are willing to let it die. Note worthy of them all was the odious claims being made by the Vice presidential candidate of the Labour Party on his channels TV interview.
“These folks are so desperate that they do not mind impugning the judiciary in order to confuse their already confused followers. They know the end of this game, they know they have no case, this is an attempt to lift a page out of Donald Trump’s playbook by continuing an electoral fight for his own financial gains.
I believe the losers should bear the loss and not further exploit their unassuming followers by formenting election denialism and propagating “the big lie” for his own financial gains; as this is callous, dastardly and unpatriotic ” Oludare commented.
He also described as an exercise in futility and spurious, allegations that a US court once indicted Tinubu for a drug offence.
“To dissect their phony allegations, their first prayer attempted to beat up a 30 years dead horse, it was a dud then and it is a dud now. First, Asiwaju (Tinubu) was never indicted neither was he named a defendant in the case. The defendants were accounts in his name while this might seem a huge bridge for their gullible followers to assimilate, a picture of the court case could not have been clearer.
“According to the affidavit filed on July 26 ‘93, Asiwaju was not even informed of the seizure warrant on his account until he called his bank to make a transaction in January ’92. It was a warrant for forfeiture in rem not in personam. Asiwaju and the Tinubu family were the claimant and they successfully claimed a majority of their property.
“The affidavit acknowledged that Asiwaju had made income from his deposits since 1984 of which not tax returns had been filed.No tax returns had been filed. Asiwaju at this point had relocated to England and subsequently Nigeria. Tax withholding was the responsibility of the paying bank,” Oludare clarified.
He added: “All these occurred during the struggle for Democracy and June 12, his nephew spoke of how adamant Asiwaju was to agree to that settlement but for persuasion and his dedication to the struggle to face down the military which a protracted court case does not behoove.
“The claims about 25% of FCT is so ludicrous, leading to Datti Baba Ahmed suggesting that the court should suffer a Bipolar Judicial Disorder. He wanted the court rule in favour of their position except in a situation when a candidate has 100% votes in of all 36 states but fail to achieve 25% in FCT. Only then by his own admission does he feel their position should be reviewed. That is just laughable.
Asking the court to cancel the election is like Manchester United asking the English FA to cancel the match after they had lost 7-0. They speak about scattered cases of violence, failing to realize that you cannot conduct a process in an environment while absolving it of its structural security realities.
“The 2023 election is the most contested, most unpredictable and the most credible election in the history of Nigeria as a country, it shows the maturity of our democracy, all aggrieved parties are encouraged to go to court (although it is amazing that none of their prayers included specific cases of electoral fraud like the 1 million vote margin they supposedly had in Lagos).
“I want to implore all nigerians to eschew violence, they should not allow these unscrupulous politicians exploit their emotions for financial gains in an attempt to recuperate their the financial losses in the electoral process.
“The Nigerian youth should expect a rapid economic growth and be ready to roll up their sleeves and play their part in the economic development of our dearly beloved country.”