By Lanre Oloyede
Renowned human rights lawyer, Barr. Chukwudi Ezeobika, has stated the condition that could warrant President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to lose the support of the people of South-East region in his bid for re-election in 2027 presidential election.
In a statement issued Sunday and made available to Nigerian Pilot, the legal practitioner stressed that the failure of the Bola Tinubu-led APC government to heed the calls of eminent jurists and major stakeholders from the south-eastern region in releasing the detained leader of the indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu unconditionally, could lead to massive revolt against the president at the poll.
Barr. Ezeobika maintained that the President’s failure to ensure the release of Mr. Kanu which would have helped to quell and put an end to the protracted unrests in the region, showed that the political will to restore lasting peace within the region, is not a viable consideration or priority for his government.
“The President has however failed to understand that such costly inaction forecloses his chances of ever getting the needed political support within the region, in his current bid to have himself re-elected.
“This singular inaction remains the main and only reason why his defeat in the whole of the south-east and south-south will be absolute, unalloyed and danming as the people from these regions will use every means necessary to defend their votes,” he stated.
The former Senatorial Candidate for Anambra South Senatorial District in 2018, noted that the government of President Tinubu has failed to jettison the unpatriotic, perfidious and deeply prejudiced behaviour of his predecessor in office in the way and manner he runs his government.
“Being a Nation with so many ethnic nationalities and diverse religions, the Bola-Tinubu led A.P.C. government has once again demonstrated that political Intolerance, bigotry and parochialism have become deeply rooted and fully entrenched as a well established ideology and inherent policy of the All Progressives Congress. The marginalisation and or exclusion of many ethnic nationalities who form an integral part of the Nigeria nation in various Federal appointments shows, to some extent, the impunity and disdain with which President Bola Tinubu builds tensions across the nation and creates dissaffection and hatred amongst Nigerians.
“Having nursed and superintended over a political party that has brought untold hardships, avoidable deaths and economic strangulation to a nation once projected as the best economy in Africa, the damaging effects of the ineptitude of the current administration on the lives of Nigerian citizens remain the main reason why President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is deemed Inelectable in the forthcoming general elections.
“With acute lack of democratic norms and basic doctrines of separation of powers amongst the various arms of government, the manner in which laws (which have no direct bearing or impact on the lives of ordinary citizens) are passed by the legislature and various unethical contradictory pronouncements and judgements from Courts of competent jurisdictions as well as reckless actions by the executive arm, it has become clear that competence ought to override narrow and shallow sentiments when electing persons to political offices in Nigeria.
“The Tinubu led-APC government has unwittingly failed to address persistent extra judicial killings across the Nigerian State and numerous arrests, illegal detentions of many Nigerian youths by security agencies most especially by the Department of State Services (DSS) without trial. It is indeed deeply troubling that many of these youths are languishing in detention facilities across the Federation even without any formal trials. This is, however, in clear violation of their fundamental rights as enshrined in Sections 34, 35, 36 and 41 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), most especially Section 36 (5) which provides that ” _Every person who is charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed to be innocent until he is proved guilty_ “.
“These and so many pressing legal and socio-economic issues currently ravaging the Nigerian State, have shown once more and to a greater degree, the ineptitude and class incompetence of the Tinubu-led APC government and their inability to lift the Nigerian masses out of poverty and lack,” the statement read in parts.
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