Chuks Okocha in Abuja
The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kogi State, Senator Dino Melaye, has said he would not seek legal redress in the last governorship election, because the All Progressives Congress (APC) had already captured the judiciary.
Melaye, who said this at a media briefing in Abuja yesterday, said his decision was hinged on the fact that the judiciary has allegedly become an arm of the ruling APC.
According to him, “It is now public knowledge that the judiciary under the current administration has become the ‘lost hope’ instead of the ‘last hope’ of the common man.
Melaye noted that it was a shame that the judiciary watched helplessly as members of the ruling party boasted of their control over the judiciary during campaigns.
“I, Dino Melaye, will not dignify a captured judiciary by filing a petition over Kogi governorship election, where majority of the results were written before the election day by INEC officials under the watch of Professor Mahmood Yakubu,who has now earned the unenviable position of the most incompetent person to preside over the Election Management Body in Nigeria.
“Why should any reasonable Nigerian go to the tribunal, when the Judiciary has been captured and members of a political party openly dare the would-be victims of their infernal rigging machine to go to court.
“Why should other political parties and Nigerians participate in future elections with the consolidation of grip and total control of INEC through the appointment of APC card carrying members as commissioners into INEC who will recruit APC supporters as poll officials?
“All recognised individuals of proven integrity from south and Northern part of this country applauded by Nigerians for their commitment to credible elections as commissioners have all been eased out of INEC.
“The way the so-called State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC) is constituted by governors with party members and supporters is what is now being brazenly applied to INEC at the federal level.
“We have already witnessed a repeat of local government elections at the States level with the writing of results before elections in Kogi and Imo States,” he stated.
