Removing Me From Office As President Will Lead To Anarchy – Tinubu Warns Tribunal

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has warn the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal that removing him from office as president over failure to score 25% of votes in Abuja may trigger anarchy in Nigeria and this could lead to a breakdown of law and order in the country. Tinubu admitted his failure to score 25 per cent of votes cast in Nigeria’s capital city of Abuja, but said it was insufficient to overturn his victory as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

According to his words; “Any other interpretation different from this will lead to absurdity, chaos, anarchy and alteration of the very intention of the legislature,” Tinubu’s lawyers led by Wole Olanipekun said in their final defense statement to the court.

The lawyers were specifically addressing a section of the Nigerian Constitution that said a presidential candidate must score 25 per cent of votes in two-thirds of Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, or Abuja.

Public commentary has been rife about the intention of the clause after Tinubu won the highest number of votes in a three-way presidential race in February but failed to score 25 per cent in the FCT. Tinubu’s team said courts have always been careful about giving extreme interpretation of the Constitution that could spark chaos.

According to his words; “Our courts have always adopted the purposeful approach to the interpretation of our Constitution, as exemplified in a host of decisions,” the team said. They also stated that Tinubu would still have won the election even if he didn’t score anything in Abuja and one other state, although this was not the argument of petitions filed against him by Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party and Peter Obi of the Labour Party.

According to his words; “Even if there was no election in one state (including the FCT), or even if the election of a state (including the FCT) is voided, the entire election cannot be voided or canceled. In concluding our arguments on this issue, we urge the court to hold that any election where the electorate exercise their plebiscite, there is neither a ‘royal’ ballot nor ‘royal’ voter; and that residents of the FCT do not have any special voting right over residents of any other state of the federation, in a manner similar to the concepts of preferential shareholding in Company Law. “We urge this court to resolve this issue against the petitioners and in favour of the respondent,” Tinubu lawyer stated.

INEC had on 1st March 2023 declared Tinubu winner of the presidential election held on 25th February 2023. The electoral office said Tinubu scored 8,794,726 votes to defeat Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, who polled 6,984,520 and 6,101,533 votes, respectively.

In their respective petitions, Atiku Abubakar alleged widespread irregularities and cheating in the election, while Peter Obi alleged similar grounds but went further to challenge Tinubu’s eligibility for the election on the grounds that he had previously forfeited money to the United States after being slammed with allegations of drug-trafficking and money laundering.

Tinubu’s lawyers denied the allegations in court, saying whatever payment Tinubu made to U.S authorities was not in the form of a fine as stated in the Nigerian Constitution. In any case, the case did not happen in Nigeria, they further argued.

Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi are expected to file their responses individually to the arguments mounted by Tinubu’s lawyers in the coming weeks, after which the tribunal, a panel of judges of the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal would finalize arguments and deliver final judgment. Notwithstanding the final judgment of the tribunal, the matter is widely expected to terminate at the Supreme Court, which would then have 60 days to deliver its ruling.

However, the Labour Party (LP) has replied a recent comment credited to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, where he reportedly warned the Presidential Election Pe­tition Court that sacking him from office for not attaining 25 percent votes in the FCT could lead to anarchy.

The opposition party in a statement by its acting National Publicity Secre­tary, Obiora Ifoh, told President Tinu­bu 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 out from power. ­

Labour Party also condemned the leak of the president’s final written address against its petition to the media, insisting that the address to the tribunal was meant to be in the exclusive custody of the court. According to the opposi­tion party, the act was a sign of desperation, as the Labour Party maintained that it was not sure the reason behind this act, and will however be careful not to term the action as sub-judice.”

The statement noted fur­ther that “the Labour Party has taken note of the news making the round from the leader of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, where he al­legedly warned the Presiden­tial Election Petition Court, that interpreting the law as provided in the constitution on the 25% of lawful votes cast in the Fed­eral Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, could lead to absurdity, chaos, anarchy and alteration of the very intention of the legislature.”

While warning the APC against mounting pressure on the judiciary to see the devel­opments from its lens, Obiora Ifoh in the statement stated; “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.

“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 Presidential election petition tribunal, and meant to be in the exclusive custody of the court was leaked to the media. 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 cannot remedy it.

“It is on this note that we request that caution must be applied by the camp of the APC in its subtle but very clear pressure believed to be mounted on the judiciary to see the developments from its lens. 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.

“We recall very clearly a mild but stern threat during the ‘Democracy Day’ speech made by the APC-led admin­istration where it stated em­phatically that ‘It has become imperative to state here that the unnecessary illegal orders used to truncate or abridge democracy will no longer be tolerated.’

“We noted then that the warning appeared threat­ening enough as it sounded more totalitarian but today we are confronted with a sterner approach to whipping the judiciary into a pathway, a development if allowed un­challenged will spell doom for the nation.

“We see in that statement a call on the armies of the APC to awaken to their sworn vow to return to the trenches just the way they unleashed terror on our supporters during the February election. The same thugs that per­petrated absurdity, chaos, and anarchy and who were used to alter the will of Nigerians are still very present and willing to do the will of their paymasters.

“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,” Labour Party statement concluded.