Weeks after he stirred quite an hornet’s nest when he declared the democracy would die if President-elect Bola Tinubu is sworn in on Monday, May 29, 2023, the Vice presidential candidate of the Labour party in last February 25, 2023 election, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed has repeated, and even worsened his comments, that drew the ire of the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, who described his last comments as treasonable.
He has also rejected the popular maxim that the judiciary is the last hope of the common man, an apparent thumbs-down for the third arm of government, which has lately gained traction lately over controversial rulings by the Supreme Court.
For Baba-Ahmed, the common man is the last hope of the common man.
At a Labour Party meeting “Good Governance Summit for All 2023 Labour Party elected candidates in Abuja on Thursday, he said: “Never in the history of the Fourth Republic has there been any president-elect that could not even win 25% of the FCT. The constitution comes interpreted, and it is to be followed at operational times such as ongoing presidential elections.
“What happened then was outright criminality, outright unconstitutionality to issue a certificate of return to an individual who did not satisfy the constitutional requirements.
“What is about to happen on the 29th of May is outright unconstitutionality….
“That simple fact, swearing in an unconstitutionally qualified President-elect to serve as the Oresident, Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is ending democracy.
“It is within the rights of all Nigerian people to engage in constitutional and legal peaceful acts so that we protect the Nigerian constitution. Nigeria is a nation because we have a constitution.
“Any President is a President because of the Constitution. When that constitution is violated, there is a question mark on that presidency, and there is a question mark on the office of the President.
“The Iffice of the President is a political one. The office of Commander-in-Chief Federal Republic of Nigeria is a professional one.
“We must not play with this office. No part of the Constitution is to be violated in order to carry out the duties of this exalted office, and this is what we are about to do.
“It is safer for Nigeria, it is safer for democracy for them to go the same way they rigged other states and other figures, it is safer for us as a nation, they go and rig another 6% in the FCT and add it to themselves, since they have all the power and all the monies.
“It is better for them to do this before swearing-in Alhaji Tinubu and Mallam Shettima. It is not too late. The INEC had always co-operated with them, it is madness, it is unconstitutional to swear in Alhaji Tinubu and Mallam Shettima as the results are today.
“Nigerians wake up, Nigeria is yours. You are your own international community. We Nigerians are our own international community.
“Anything that we did not do, the world will sit and lament with us. We won this election. Peter Obi, LP, and my humble self won this election.
“Within one year from when Peter Obi exited the ild party and formed this movement, today it is barely one year and we defeated a total of 47 years of presidential elections experience in that of Atiku Abubakar and Bola Ahmed Tinubu. From 1992 till date for Atiku Abubakar. From 2007 till date for Tinubu.
“This is not to say how famous Peter Obi is, this is to say how powerful the Nigerian people are. If the Nigerian people are that powerful in one year defeat 47 years the Nigerian people are powerful enough to protect the Nigerian constitution.”