The Labour Party faction led by Lamidi Apapa has distanced itself from the demands for an interim administration and the protests that the inauguration of President-elect Bola Tinubu on May 29 should be postponed pending the outcome of the petitions before the Presidential Election Tribunal sitting in Abuja.
According to LP, the Electoral Act and the Nigerian Constitution do not allow for a void, according to a statement provided to Vanguardngr.com in the capital of Ogun State, Abeokuta, by the faction's spokesman, Abayomi Arabambi.
“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.”
In 2003, the court confirmed Peter Obi as the new governor of Anambra State after Chris Ngige had been ousted.
Arabambi cited sections 136 and 146 of the Nigerian Constitution when he said that only demise or irreversible disability may prevent a president-elect from taking the oath of office.
Arabambi claimed that "what Peter Obi is crying for is not supported by the law," but added that "a refusal to swear-in Tinubu as President on May 29 will create a vacuum in the system, saying the law does not allow this."
In addition to emphasizing that there is no provision in the legislation for an interim president in this case,
Arabambi said “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,” he stated.
He said, “Labour Party warns all Obidiots clandestinely parading themselves as LP members and other Obidients who may be agitating that the President-elect should not be sworn in to have a rethink as Labour Party will not support any unlawful means of agitations or change of government violently.”
Arabambi said that the LP would keep pursuing its legal claim.
