Bishop Timothy Yahaya of the Diocese of Kaduna Anglican Communion, Cathedral Church of St. Michael has said that 30 days were enough to do away with all election cases before the May 29th hand over date if the Nigerian judiciary emulates the Kenyan example.
He called on those legal luminaries who are saddled with the responsibility to arbitrate with 2023 presidential election petitions to hasten up and conclude the matter before the swearing in ceremony on May 29.
In an interview with journalists on Sunday after his Easter message to the nation, Bishop Yahaya said the speed with which the judiciary in Kenya, an African country handled its presidential election petition matters and legally declared a winner before the handover date was worthy of emulation by its Nigerian counterpart.
He said that 30 days was enough to deal with all elections petitions by the court before handing over date, putting into consideration how similar feat was achieved in Kenya last year.
He recalled that Kenya’s supreme court had confirmed William Ruto as winner of the country’s disputed presidential election after the opposition and election officials questioned the count.
Ruto was then the Vice President was announced winner on 15 August, 2022, amid a divide within the electoral commission over the declared outcome, which showed that the vice-president had gained 50.5% of the vote, beating the longtime opposition leader Raila Odinga, and narrowly avoiding a runoff.
He said Odinga had launched a challenge in the court, alleging fraud, voter suppression and impunity by the commission’s chair, who he claimed acted unilaterally.
The court held that there was no credible evidence of fraud, interference or a failure of the electoral body’s technology.
Odinga had questioned the Supreme Court’s ruling but accepted the verdict.
Bishop Yahaya explained that, “a country like Kenya did not swear in a president, the judiciary swung into action and done away with post election cases before swearing in date. What is wrong with Nigeria; are we delaying because we want to collect allowances, are we delaying because corruption had eaten everything, there is nothing difficult about this case, in less than 30 days we can disperse of this case. Election was finished in February, swearing in will be by the end of May, and yet the cases have not been heard, so for me what is not in Nigeria constitution is not in Nigeria constitution.
“I know Nigeria is a wonderful country where there is doctrine of necessity, how necessary is that doctrine of necessity. Now the incoming leaders should know that the game has changed in this country. The People are not looking for looters, they are looking for leaders. They are looking for a leader that can lead naira from one naira to one dollar. People are looking for security where they can open their doors in the middle of the night. People are looking for hospitals, they don’t need to go on medical tourism. That is what people are looking for. People are looking for good roads, if they ply roads they will know that they are plyiny good roads in their country. That is what the people are looking for.
“The people are not looking for leaders that blow Siren with the tax payers money. We are not looking for intimidators, we are looking for servants leaders. So for us to chart a course for the new leaders, merit must be considered, pragmatism must be considered, and the top of them all, honesty must be considered. This is the agenda we are setting because if merit, pragmatism and honesty are there, Nigeria will be the greatest country in the world. Without these three ingredients we don’t have a nation.
“My this year’s Easter message to the nation is that there is hope. In three days Jesus was lying in the grave as if it was not going to happen. Today Nigeria too is going through a turbulence time, and it is like the greatness of Nigeria cannot be recovered, but I dare to say that not only the greatness of the past will be recovered, but the greatness will be achieved. There is a great hope in this country. All it takes to build a great nation is in this country. And therefore we should not lose hearts, we should trust and believe God. The God that caused the resurrection to take place, it is the God that we serve in Nigeria. The same God is going to resurrect our railways, resurrect our power system, resurrect our educational system, resurrect our health system, resurrect our security system. Honestly, all citizens of Nigeria need to have hope. Hope is the tonic of every day life as far as our message is concerned”.
On INEC been accused of manipulating the last general elections, Bishop Yahaya said, “as far as I am concerned, INEC comes, INEC goes. And I know that INEC is not the final arbiter. Now there is an acid test in the floor of the court. How the courts deal with the matters before them, will tell the common man whether there is still hope. Even if anyone stain his hands, there is still hope because it is God that judge everyone. So there is still hope. Whether you do it correctly or wrongly, there is still hope because one day God will bring it to judgment.”
“Let me tell Nigerians; have you ever gone to the graveyard or the mortuary, do you see how helpless dead bodies are lying, in the mortuary there is no rich there is no poor, if you go to the graveyard you don’t see the bones of the poor and the bones of the rich, you see graves. No matter how expensive coffins are, it is a dead body that is inside, so we should be careful how we live this life, and we should know that this life is not the end of this life. After this life there is another life. And before you enjoy that life you have to stand before a God that you cannot bribe with naira or dollars. You must answer Him fairly and squarely. Lets be careful with what we do, we cannot remove hope from man. The God that made man gave us hope.”
“Let me give you an example; every day we wake up, the NEPA of heaven has not failed to give us light, every day we wake and count season, dry and rain season, fortunately, the water board of heaven has not failed to give us water, that is the type of hope God gave us. Whether we like it or not, many years ago we were babies, but today we are fathers and some of us are grandparents, that is the hope of life. And if this hope is real everybody must have to be very careful. One day you will become a grandfather and from grandfather to the grave. Time and old age will go. There is a question to ask yourself; what legacy am I leaving behind. People who are professors today, who are declaring results, I hope they have a conscience. In this country where University professors should be models, they are no longer models, I think our ivory tower of learning needs to go through a sanitation process so that this country can get it right. But to say that because of few individuals there is no hope for Nigeria, I say our God is a God of hope. Therefore, we continue to hope”.