Obi, Datti unfit to rule Nigeria for not accepting Tinubu’s victory: Lagos lawmaker Idimogu

Mr Idimogu said any politician who finds it difficult to accept defeat is not fit to lead the country.

News Agency of Nigeria • April 1, 2023

Jude Idimogu

A two-term Lagos lawmaker of Igbo extraction, Jude Idimogu, has described as unfortunate the televised comment by the Labour Party’s vice presidential candidate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, that Nigeria didn’t have a president-elect yet and that it would be unconstitutional to swear in Bola Tinubu.

On Saturday, Mr Idimogu, representing Oshodi-Isolo Constituency II in the Lagos State House of Assembly, told journalists that the aggrieved politicians should avoid actions capable of truncating democracy.

Mr Idimogu said any politician who finds it difficult to accept defeat is not fit to lead the country because such an attitude reveals their other side if they win.

“Nothing will happen; Tinubu will be sworn in as the president come May 29. Nigeria does not belong to an individual or a cabal,” he said.

The lawmaker, also the deputy apex leader of Ndigbo in Lagos State APC, was reacting to politicians kicking against the planned inauguration of the president-elect on May 29 and warned them to guard their utterances.

“Those vying for the position of president should not be seen making senseless and insensitive statements.

“Let those who lost be tolerant and sportsmen. If you lose an election, don’t bring down the roof; just wait for another four years.

“Nobody should end democracy. All of us have an interest in this country, and we appreciate democracy. Some people worked hard for it. God will punish whoever wants to truncate it.”

According to him, Nigerians should see anyone that wants to truncate democracy as enemies of the nation.

He urged the opposition not to stampede the judiciary and create confusion.

Anti-Tinubu protesters had intermittently taken to the streets of Abuja, kicking against the inauguration of the president-elect on May 29.

INEC, on March 1, declared Mr Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the president-elect.

Mr Tinubu polled 8,794,726 votes to defeat his PDP rival, Atiku Abubakar, who polled 6,984,520, Peter Obi of the Labour Party, who secured 6,101,533 votes, and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria People’s Party trailed with 1,496,687 votes.

(NAN)

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