The Day of Reckoning Has Come Into Our Democracy – George Eke

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A legal practitioner and member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Geore Eke on Thursday praised the conduct of the 2015 general elections, maintaining that it has attained a height where politicians can be questioned by the electorate.

“Nigerians can now withdraw their mandate when they so desire”, he said while speaking as a guest on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.

He further said that four years down the line, Nigerians “will be able to ask General Muhammadu Buhari what he did with the mandate given to him.

“In other words it’s like the day of reckoning has come into our democracy” adding that “that is where we have been heading to; we have been asking for this. A situation where the ballot now counts”, he said.

He said Nigeria’s political landscape has gone beyond “just getting a nomination in PDP” and getting the position “just like that” because “PDP was the dominant party”.

He said Nigerians should be grateful to President Goodluck Jonathan for making such a possibility, adding that the president provided the atmosphere for things to change.

“PDP was larger than life and they wanted it to remain that way but the man (President) said let us expand this democratic space; incidentally, he is the victim of this expansion and he needs to be commended”, he insisted.

He further noted that President Jonathan was in a position to scuttle the merger that birthed the APC, arguing that if the President had given those involved in the merger “what they wanted”, the opposition would not have been formed.

Mr Eke also praised the President-Elect, Muhammadu Buhari and commended the speech he gave after receiving his certificate of return, noting that “every sentence meant a lot.

“He had tried to douse the tension, just like his counterpart in the PDP” adding that “the APC is not particularly coming out gloating” about the victory.

Nigeria’s main opposition party, the All progressives Congress (APC) won the March 28 presidential election defeating the ruling party that has ruled Nigeria since it returned to democracy in 1999.

The opposition candidate Muhammadu Buhari polled a total of 15,424,921 votes to defeat 13 other candidates, with Dr Goodluck Jonathan of the ruling PDP polling a total of 12,853,162 votes to place second.