Former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has declared that he cannot comment on February 23 presidential election because there is a case in court over it.
Obasanjo said commenting on it would be subjudice.
The former president gave the reason on Tuesday while speaking at the launching of a book, “Election in Nigeria: The Long Road To Democracy.”
The book, written by Abdullahi Shehu, was launched in Abuja and attended by dignitaries including former Head of State, Yakubu Gowon; a Lagos based lawyer and human rights activist, Mr. Femi Falana and a former Deputy Senate President, Ibrahim Mantu.
His words: “I will not dabble into the details of what I call current aspect of Professor Shehu’s book because since the emphasis was on the national election, particularly the presidential election, and the presidential election is now taken to court.
“I think talking about it would become subjudice because it has been taken to court.”
It would be recalled that Obasanjo was very vocal about the presidential election before it was conducted.
He had actually warned President Muhammadu Buhari not to stay in office beyond 2019.
Committed to ensuring that Buhari did not continue in office, Obasanjo approved the candidature of his former deputy, Atiku Abubakar for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Although Atiku fought the battle well, he lost.
Atiku has since declared that the election was fraught with irregularities and gone to court to challenge the results which made Buhari the President-Elect.
Many had expected that Obasanjo would comment on it, but he said he would be violating court process by doing so.
Speaking on the book, the former president said it was a comparative analysis of the APC Next Level and the PDP’s Let’s Get Nigeria Working Again campaigns.
“The book discusses the election and electoral processes in Nigeria including why there must be a free fair transparent and credible election as predictive autumn of the country.
“It reviews the main factors that led to the defeat of the PDP in 2015, and how the APC mismanaged the victory. The main thrust of the book is a comparative analysis of the APC Next Level and the PDP’s Let’s Get Nigeria Working Again,” he added.
He stated further in his comment: “I think from the review, you would see that the author had done justice in what he set out to achieve
”In the introduction in which election is the bedrock of a democratic government, all modern democracy and old elections, not all elections are truly democratic. The measure of a democratic election is that it is transparent fair, credible and acceptable.
”The problem is who determines these outcomes in the election? And that is where the concern about a sustainable democracy arises and sustainable democracy, if an election is fundamental and basic to democracy and good governance.”
