President Bola Tinubu has allegedly warned members of the presidential elections tribunal that removing him as president could lead to a breakdown of law and order in Nigeria.
Peoples Gazzette reports that the President's
counsel, Wole Olanipekun, said this in his final defense presented to the
tribunal where Tinubu's victory in the February 25, 2023 Presidential election
is being challenged by PDP's Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi of the Labour Party.
The report claims the President's legal team
admitted President Tinubu's failure to score 25 per cent of votes cast in
Nigeria’s capital Abuja but said it was insufficient to overturn his victory as
declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
“Any other interpretation different from this
will lead to absurdity, chaos, anarchy and alteration of the very intention of
the legislature,” President Tinubu’s lawyers led by Wole Olanipekun reportedly
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.
The President's legal team said courts have
always been careful about giving extreme interpretation of the Constitution
that could spark chaos.
“Our courts have always adopted the
purposeful approach to the interpretation of our Constitution, as exemplified
in a host of decisions. Even if there was no election in one State (including
the FCT), or even if the election of a State/States (including the FCT) is/are
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” the lawyers said
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