Kabir Marafa, a former senator
representing Zamfara central, says President Bola Tinubu saved democracy in the
country by not interfering with verdicts on the supreme court on the various
governorship disputes.
On Friday, the apex court
affirmed the elections of Caleb Mutfwang (Plateau); Abba Kabir Yusuf (Kano);
Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos); Bala Mohammed (Bauchi); Dauda Lawal (Zamfara);
Francis Nwifuru (Ebonyi) Alex Otti (Abia) and Bassey Otu (Cross River).
The governors were declared as
the winners of the March 2023 election by the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC).
In a statement on Monday, Marafa
said Tinubu and justices of the supreme court have lived up to the expectations
of Nigerians.
“It is a welcome
development. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has by this singular action of
non-interference in the Supreme Court judgment saved the country’s democracy
and forestalled the repeat of the 1983 scenario,” the statement reads.
“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.”
The former lawmaker recalled how
the All Progressives Congress (APC) lost Zamfara state in the 2019 elections in
which he was a governorship aspirant.
“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 opposition party,” Marafa said.
“The judiciary must be
allowed to be just and fair no matter whose ox is gored, this is necessary if
the political actors want democracy to endure in the country.”
While congratulating the governor
of Zamfara over the supreme court verdict. Marafa urged him to justify the
confidence reposed in him by the people of the state.
