President Bola Tinubu has said that ‘unnecessary illegal orders’ used to truncate or abridge democracy will no longer be tolerated.

Development Diaries reports that the president made this known in his June 12 Democracy Day speech.

He said, ‘It has become imperative to state here that the unnecessary illegal orders used to truncate or abridge democracy will no longer be tolerated’.

He also said that those who cannot endure and accept the pain of defeat in elections do not deserve the joy of victory when it is their turn to triumph.

‘Above all, those who disagree with the outcome of the elections are taking full advantage of the constitutional provisions to seek redress in court and that is one of the reasons why democracy is still the best form of government invented by man’, he said.

The president’s statement has come under criticism as it has been perceived by many as a threat to the country’s judiciary which can also be seen as a threat to democracy.

Tinubu’s electoral victory is being challenged in court by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and his Labour Party equivalent, Peter Obi.

The 1999 constitution does not empower the president to determine orders that are ‘unnecessary’ and ‘illegal’.

That is the responsibility of the judiciary, according to section six of the constitution.

‘The judicial powers of the Federation shall be vested in the courts to which this section relates, being courts established for the Federation’, the section reads.

Development Diaries, therefore, condemns the president’s ‘unnecessary illegal orders’ remark as that statement does not reflect respect for the rule of law, which is a crucial precondition for the respect of human rights in an ideal democratic society.

Photo source: Bola Ahmed Tinubu