12th September, 2019
Residents of Ilorin on Thursday expressed mixed feelings on the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.
While some of the respondents described the judgment as a victory for Nigerian democracy, others claimed that the issue of qualifications was not well resolved.
One of the residents, Mr Tunji Gambari, said he was overwhelmed by the verdict as he was of the belief that the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) could not have won the case.
According to him, the election of Buhari ” is clean and clear as Nigerians came out en masse to vote for him in Feb. 23 poll.”
“Besides, Atiku’s emergence as the candidate of the PDP in the first place was wrong because he had been a vice president for eight years.
“I wonder what had been his contribution to the nation that would make him come out to contest again.
“So for me, it is a victory for all Nigerians, not Buhari alone, because of the fight against corruption.
“Most Nigerian politicians are corrupt and when Buhari stepped into office, he fought the menace head-on,” he added.
Speaking in a similar vein, Alhaji Hasheem Abdulrahman, said that Buhari’s victory would ensure continuity of projects and programmes of the APC administration.
Abdulrahman said that if the judgement had gone the other way, it would have been a disaster for democracy and Nigerians as a whole, considering the millions of voters that voted for the president.
“At least Nigeria is progressing gradually. So if it had been another way, it will affect our progress.
“I will appeal to the PDP to please accept the judgement for the sake of democracy and the growth of the country.
“He can still contest in 2023. Nigerians should shelve their differences and work in unity with the president, “Abdulrahman said.
He described the judgement as a positive development for democracy, adding that “somebody must win and somebody must lose in a game of numbers.“
But another resident, Mallam Ishaq Abdulazeez, said he was surprised with the way the issue of qualifications was resolved in favor of the president.
Abdulazeez said the tribunal’s decision that Buhari did not need to attach his credentials to Form CF001 ” is unfortunate and a mockery of the elite in the country.”
He said that the verdict could well have resonated with the antecedents of the past where incumbent presidents always won at the tribunal.
Mr Yakubu Balogun, on his part, said that the judgement was good for continuity and stability of the system, adding that the issue of Buhari’s certificate would need to be resolved at the Supreme Court.