From Victor Akinkuolie, Ado-Ekiti
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The immediate past national legal adviser of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Chief Rafiu Balogun has faulted the position of the Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar on the just concluded Presidential election.
Balogun, a former chairman of NBA, Ilorin branch argued that Atiku:s jaundiced view was at variance with huge local and international observers that monitored the poll.
Balogun who submitted that the election was free and fair, asking that Nigerians to appreciate the electoral umpire .
The legal luminary recalled that many elections held in the past under PDP administration were not only fraught with irregularities but were upturned by the tribunals.
He cautioned the opposition leaders against making incendiary comments and shun any act capable of throwing the nation into chaos.
The legal practitioner noted that the barrage of accolades coming from foreign observers and the international communities lent credence to the credibility of the poll.
“For anyone to say that the last electoral was the worst in Nigeria ” s history .That is not correct. I think our leader should be honest whenever they are reacting to issues .We have had elections in the past supervised by the PDP and we know how they all ended .Many of such elections were upturned by the tribunals .
“Even during the era of late President Umaru Yar’adua who was a member of PDP ,he publicly acknowledged that the election that brought him in was fraught with irregularities .So,how can Atiku tell us now that the last Presidential election was the worst in Nigeria?
Except Atiku and his party have other evidences .Let them bring it out and show it to the public .” Balogun said.
Although ,Balogun admitted that Nigeria electoral system required some improvement, he however said that isolated incidences of violence and ballot snatching cannot invalidate the entire process .
