Former Vice President and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, on Tuesday, said he was not worried that the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, would be sworn in on May 29, before the conclusion of petitions seeking to nullify his election victory.
Vanguard report that, Atiku, who is currently challenging the declaration of Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, as winner of the presidential election that held on February 25, said he was hopeful that he would reclaim his mandate in court.
According to Vanguard, Speaking through his lead attorney, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, not long after the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, in Abuja, consolidated his petition with those filed by candidates for the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi, and the Allied Peoples Movement, APM, Atiku, Tinubu insisted that the court has the authority to remove him from office even after the oath of office.
The PDP candidate, through his team of lawyers, noted that full-blown hearing on the three merged petitions would begin on May 30, a day after Tinubu’s inauguration as president. “I have been asked about May 29, I want to assure people that swearing in is only a ceremony that does not in any way tie the hands of the new president,” the candidate said.
“The person taking the oath, not the court, is bound by the taking of the oath.”
“You have been informed of the court’s deadlines for parties to deliver their cases. We are pleased with the development because it means the petitions would be decided quickly, ” Atiku’s attorney Uche, SAN, remarked.
It will be recalled that the Justice Haruna Tsammani-led five-member panel had approved Atiku’s plea to be given three weeks to submit evidence before the court through 100 witnesses during the presentation of its pre-hearing report on Tuesday.
Vanguard report that, Atiku had argued that Tinubu’s declaration as the winner of the presidential election was “invalid due to non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022” in his joint appeal with the PDP, designated CA/PEPC/05/2023.
He maintained that corruption rendered Tinubu’s election illegal.
Atiku and the PDP, in addition to asking the court to proclaim him the victor of the presidential election after receiving the second-highest number of votes cast,
applied for the Independent National Electoral Commission, or INEC, to remove the Certificate of Return that had already been given to Tinubu.
As the petitions seeking to void his election victory are heard, President-elect Tinubu has prohibited members of his legal team from speaking to Vanguard reporter.
