Former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi has described the Lokoja Court ruling ordering the deregistration of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) as another setback for Nigeria’s democracy and the institutions upon which the country’s future depends.
Reacting to the court ruling, Obi stated that every Nigerian committed to the country’s progress should be deeply concerned.
“This judgment represents another setback for our democracy and the institutions upon which our future depends,” he said.
The presidential candidate of the NDC expressed regret that those who claim to champion democracy now appear determined to weaken the very institutions that sustain it.
Obi lamented that, by doing so, public confidence is being undermined and the future of millions of Nigerians is being endangered.
He also decried the fact that the legislature and the judiciary are increasingly being drawn into this pattern of institutional decline, stressing that democracy cannot thrive where institutions lose their independence and credibility.
“Those who seek to weaken Nigeria’s democratic foundations will not ultimately prevail,” he noted. “When a similar situation recently affected the ADC, I condemned it without hesitation. I do so again today because my position has always been guided by principle.”
Obi disclosed that his concern is not about who becomes President but about ensuring that Nigeria works, emphasising that the country’s politics must move beyond the quest for power and focus instead on building a united nation founded on justice, strong institutions, the rule of law, and equal opportunity.
“That is the Nigeria we owe ourselves and the one we must leave for future generations,” he asserted, while urging all well-meaning Nigerians to rise above partisan interests and defend the country’s democracy.
He argued that the survival of Nigeria’s institutions is inseparable from the survival of the nation, adding that it is only when Nigerians work together that the Nigeria of their dreams will become possible.
