Afenifere Leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo says Nigeria is far from allowing the votes of the electorates to count while suggesting that rigging is the order of the day during elections.
Adebanjo who is also a chieftain of the National Democratic Coalition (NDC) made this assertion on Tuesday while speaking on Arise TV.
“What Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) did to Nigerians in 1993 has been re-enacted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu in 2023,” Adebanjo said.
“We have not learnt the lessons of letting electorates’ votes count,” the 95-year-old elder statesman stated.
Adebanjo in his statement referred to the presidential election of June 12, 1993, which was won by the late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola.
Recall that the same election which was alleged to have been free and fair even by foreign monitors was controversially annulled by the former military president, Babangida.
According to Adebanjo, the same thing IBB did exactly three decades ago was re-enacted by INEC in declaring President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT) as the winner of the 2023 presidential poll.
Meanwhile, despite his inauguration as the 16th president of Nigeria, Tinubu is still facing lawsuits from other contestants.
The likes of Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party presidential aspirant, Peter Obi have both taken Tinubu, INEC and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to court.
On the other hand, President Tinubu, on Monday, in celebration of Democracy Day in Nigeria hailed the winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, MKO Abiola.
Tinubu in his official broadcast to the nation described the late businessman who died in suspicious circumstances after his election was annulled by Babangida as the symbol of democracy.
