On Monday, Bola Tinubu was sworn-in as President of Nigeria ahead of the May 30 official date set by the Presidential Election Petition Court to commence full hearing on all petitions challenging his electoral victory.
It was reported that Peter Obi of the Labour
party, Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic party and the Allied Peoples
Movement were directed by the court to start bringing witnesses against the
Independent National Electoral Commission and Tinubu from Tuesday, May 30.
To challenge Tinubu’s victory, Obi’s legal
team had said they have 50 witnesses while Atiku’s lawyers intend to line up
100 witnesses.
During his inaugural address, Tinubu
commented on the petitions against his electoral victory.
The president, who was sworn-in today, said
it remains the right of his political opponents to seek redress in court.
“Some have taken their concerns to court
seeking legal redress.
“That is their right. This is the essence of
the rule of law,” Tinubu said while not mentioning any of the persons
challenging his electoral victory.
He promised that his administration will
never pull down any person holding a contrary opinion to his own, saying he
“clearly won” the poll.
“The outcome reflected the will of the
people, however, my victory does not render me any more Nigerian than my
opponents. They shall forever be my fellow compatriots and I will treat them as
such,” Tinubu added.
The president’s comments come after Obi had
earlier today alleged that he expects attacks on his personality in the months
ahead.
He insisted on going through the judiciary to
claim his presidential victory through his petition alleging that results of
the election were altered in over 18,000 polling units.
“We expect that the Nigerian judiciary will
use the election cases now before it to reaffirm its independence and
integrity. It has to do so, for all our sakes and for itself.,” Obi tweeted
today.
On his part, Atiku has maintained that the
court will overturn Tinubu’s victory.
They refused to congratulate Tinubu even
though the latter promised to extend a hand of fellowship to all.
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