Comrade Issa Aremu, Director General of the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS) Ilorin Centre in Kwara State, has condemned the call for an interim government following the country’s general elections as illegal, undemocratic, and unacceptable.
Aremu, a labour leader, made the declaration while speaking with newsmen on the sidelines of the Ramadan iftar lecture in Ilorin over the weekend, admonishing canvassers for the interim government to perish the thought.
Only last week, the Department of State Services (DSS) claimed to have discovered plans by some unnamed key actors to form an interim government following the recently concluded 2023 general elections, which resulted in Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress being elected President-elect.
Aremu said: “I don’t think any serious Nigerian voter wants to return to an idea that is already discredited, outdated and out of fashion, it has been declared illegal and alien to this current constitution and is an aberration to the entire democratic process.
“Those who are muting this idea should perish the thought, they should organise and not to agonise and the way to organise will be if you are aggrieved seek redress with the tribunal.
“Even after May 29, we should work towards good governance because elections are just the means; the end is good governance and it is not over until we combine political democracy with economic democracy and economic democracy can only come when we uplift our people out of poverty. Millions are still living in poverty.”
The labour activist commended the Department of State Services for being vigilant to uncover the alleged plot and making it public, adding “all of us should rise and defend this democratic process.”
While also commending the turnout of voters in the 2023 general elections, Aremu said, “Let me use this opportunity to commend millions of registered voters who came out to exercise their democratic right during the February 25 Presidential and the March 18 gubernatorial elections.
“It is now clear that Nigerians are now committed to democratic process. In spite of the economic challenges in the country, they still came out in large numbers.
“We should all work towards the inauguration. For those who are aggrieved, we have processes for seeking redress and I want to commend all the key actors who have taken advantage of the election tribunal; that is the way to go in democracy; we count on the judiciary to do justice to all the cases,” he added.
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