President Bola Tinubu has been informed by the Labour Party (LP) that the country will not descend into chaos if the court removes him from power.
A petition filed by LP trying to overturn Tinubu’s victory on the grounds that he didn’t receive 25% of the valid votes cast in the federal capital territory (FCT) had been requested to be dismissed by the presidential election tribunal, as Tinubu had done.
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Tinubu, through Wole Olanipekun, his counsel, in a final written address to the tribunal against the petition, said the FCT is the 37th state for electoral purposes and any other interpretation would “lead to absurdity, chaos, anarchy and alteration of the very intention of the legislature”.
Olanipekun said the petition is novel and not familiar with the country’s electoral laws.
As a response, the LP claimed that Tinubu’s comment was superfluous because the case was already in court in a statement released on Monday by Obiora Ifoh, the party’s national press secretary.
The LP stated that the All Progressives Congress (APC) must exercise caution in how it handles the case, which is still pending in court, and noted that no amount of pressure on the tribunal’s judges can alter the procedures and standards that have been established by the law.
“We are worried that the statement which formed part of his submissions and was contained in his final written address against the Labour Party’s petition pending at the PREPEC, and meant to be in the exclusive custody of the court was leaked to the media,” the statement reads.
“We still do not know the reason behind this act of desperation, even when the matter is still pending in court. We will however be careful not to term the action as sub-judice.
“Having said that, the Labour Party thinks that the statement was unnecessary since the matter is already before the court, and going ahead to pontificate on it could be construed as interference in the duties and responsibilities of the judiciary.
“The truth of the matter is that there are no sentiments when it comes to matters of law. The law is the law and once the law has stipulated the manner and how a matter must be carried out, it must follow that pattern.
“If the law has stated the requirement that a presidential candidate must meet before he can be declared, there is no shortcut to it.
“Therefore, if the constitution which is the ground norm of the law in Nigeria has stated clearly that you must score at least 25 percent in FCT before the president can be declared, anything short of that can not remedy it.
“We insist that no amount of threat from the APC on the judges in the tribunal can change the processes and requirements that the law has put in place. It must be followed and that is the position of the Labour Party.
“Let me assure the APC and their leaders that if there were no absurdity, chaos, and anarchy when they forced their way into power, Nigeria will still witness peace when they are eventually evicted from power.”
