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Chief Olabode George, a former deputy national chairman of the People’s Democratic Party, has expressed worry over the judiciary’s role in deciding election winners in Nigeria.

This is because he warned the judiciary against removing the public’s ability to choose the winners of elections.

Following the announcement that the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in Abuja would issue its ruling on Wednesday, he expressed his anxiety during a press conference held in his office in Ikoyi on Monday.

In a statement released on Monday, the tribunal said it would rule on the petitions contesting the Independent National Electoral Commission’s announcement that Bola Tinubu had won the 2023 presidential election on Wednesday.

George, however, questioned why the judiciary hadn’t ordered INEC to re-conduct the polls to help the emergence of true winners, as opposed to issuing declarations to decide election winners.

He said, “Our country has been doing, very little positively and very much negatively. In the last few days, I have been thinking as a former military officer and as a civilian since I have served five presidents.

“Our electoral process is shambolic, nonsensical and makes the country nosediving. It is the manipulation of the system.

“A glitch on the day of the election is unforgivable but the INEC chairman told us they were ready but with what happened, generations to come will never forgive him.

“The most contentious issue in Nigeria today is the judiciary, it is one of the pillars of government. Is it right for the judiciary to tell us who won or lost the election? What we understand by democracy is Government of the people by the people and for the people but in our own case it shouldn’t be Government of the judiciary by the judiciary and for the judiciary. Is that democratic?

“It is the will of the people that should prevail. If you discover any wrong, ask them to go back and conduct a fresh election even if it takes a hundred times. The job of the judiciary is not to tell us who lost or who won.”

Following the declaration of a two-day warning strike by the Nigeria Labour Congress, some state chapters of the organised labour union have expressed their readiness to join the industrial action.

The leadership of the state chapters of the labour unions, in separate interviews with our correspondents, said they have ordered their members to join the warning strike which is scheduled to be held on Tuesday and Wednesday, September 5 and 6, 2023.

Speaking with our correspondent on Sunday, the Chairman, NLC Lagos chapter, Mrs Agnes Sessi, said Lagos NLC would join the nationwide strike.

“We are under the authority of our national leadership and whatever is decided at the national level is binding on us. So, yes, we are joining the strike,” Sessi affirmed.

Abdullahi Jungle, the chairman of the Sokoto State NLC, also revealed to The PUNCH that the state’s union would organize its members to participate in the two-day warning strike.

The council’s members are scheduled to meet on Sunday to discuss the modalities, according to the chairman.

“Yes, we are joining the strike as we are already mobilising our members for the strike.

“We are holding a meeting today on how to go about it, but I can assure you that we will join the strike,” Jungle said.

The NLC chapter in Kano State has declared that it will participate in the planned warning strike and demonstration that the union’s national body has called for.

The National Executive Council meeting in Abuja was where the decision to go on the warning strike was made, according to Kabiru Inuwa, the state NLC chairman, who made the announcement in a phone chat with The PUNCH on Sunday.

“We are going to hold our State Executive Council meeting today (Sunday) around 3pm to finalise the arrangements for the commencement of the warning strike on Tuesday.

“So, we are going to join the strike as directed by the national headquarters of our union because we attended the NEC where the decision was reached,” Inuwa said.

The NLC branch in Ekiti State also announced that its members would participate in the two-day warning strike called by the union’s national leadership.

Kolapo Olatunde, the state chairman, said that if the federal government did not take action to prevent the two-day warning strike, members in Ekiti State will follow suit.

Olatunde stated that members in Ekiti State already had the communication from the national body regarding the issue and that if the necessary wasn’t done by then, members would need to be mobilized.

“There is correspondence towards the decision, there is communique to that effect from the national, that is already with our members. It is a collective decision.”

Similar to this, Ibrahim Fika, the general secretary of the NLC in Gombe State, stated that they had been informed of the strike and will be participating.

In an interview with our correspondent on Saturday, Fika made this revelation.

He claims that the state’s union won’t begin mobilizing until Monday following its State Executive Council meeting.

He said, “This is national. Even if we don’t mobilise, the industrial union headquarters will mobilise them. But for us in Gombe State, we will possibly have our State Executive meeting on Monday because we just returned from Abuja on Friday and today is the weekend.

“I’m very sure the headquarters will communicate to them but nevertheless, we will have our SEC meeting on Monday so that immediately, which is the next day, we will go for action,” Fika added.

The Niger State chapter of the NLC said had gone into a crucial meeting with all its affiliate bodies.