A faction leader of the Labour Party, LP, Lamidi Apapa has revealed that he is not a party to agitation that the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, should not be sworn in until the petition before the presidential election tribunal is resolved.
There were mixed reactions when a renown elder statesman, Archbishop John Onaiyekan, said the Tribunal should deliver its verdict on the petition against Tinubu before May 29.
The spokesperson of the Lamidi-led faction, Abayomi Arabambi maintained that the Electoral Act and the Constitution do not allow for such a vacuum.
“Swearing in Tinubu on May 29, may not have any impact on the ongoing legal tussle on the presidential election involving our party, APC and INEC. So, whether the President-elect is sworn in or not, there is right to remove him legally if it is found out that he was not duly elected,” Arabambi said.
He even cited sections 136 and 146 of the constitution, to substantiate his argument, “What Peter Obi is crying for is not supported by the law. A refusal to swear in Tinubu as President will create a vacuum in the system, the law abhors this.
“Even Peter Obi once benefitted from the system of being sworn into office despite pending petitions filed against him before the tribunal by Andy Uba. The Law has to be complied with, which is to swear in Tinubu as president, and if anybody wants to change the narrative, they will have to change the law.”
While reacting to the Lamidi-led faction’s stance, acting National Publicity Secretary, Labour Party, Obiora Ifoh, stated that the remarks of Arabambi and Apapa evidently showed that they are hell bent on destroying the party for their personal gains.
“The text of the statement which was read as commercial in about three television stations in prime time hours suggests that the real sponsors of the crisis in the LP would stop at nothing in ensuring that they sustain the imbroglio.”
“The huge financial war-chest being deployed to achieve this inglorious plot to halt a popular aspiration of millions of Nigerians for a new and prosperous nation, leaves a huge gap on the dexterity and desperation of these evil plotters.
“In all Peter Obi’s public and private statements, he has never said or by implication, insinuate that May 29 should be shifted. He is a democrat and he is one person that believes so much in the judiciary as the last arbiter, and that is why he has resorted to the court to seek justice,” Ifoh said.
