Tinubu’s inauguration: Nigerians divide along party, regional lines

By Famous Ozobo, Warri

There is a palpable fear in Nigeria as to whether the president-elect will be sworn in following the increasing calls for the cancellation of the presidential elections in the country.

The conception by various political parties, presidential candidates and their supporters that the presidential election in the country was rigged and should be declared null and void.

Especially the Peoples’ Democratic Party and the Labour Party faithful who strongly believed that the president-elect stole their mandate and they will reclaim it at the election tribunal.

A good number of the Nigerian populace have accused the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, of fraudulently announcing the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC as the winner of the February 25, 2023, presidential election in the country.

The presidential candidates of the PDP and Labour Party had since approached the election tribunal to challenge the outcome of the election.

The LP presidential candidate Peter Obi had severally stated that he won the presidential election but INEC instead of announcing him, announced Bola Tinubu as the winner of the presidential poll in the country.

In the same vein, the PDP presidential candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar had also claimed that he won the February 25 presidential poll, describing the purported victory of Tinubu as a sham. He has also proceeded to the tribunal to declare him the winner of the presidential polls.

Meanwhile, both presidential candidates and aggrieved party members have appealed to the internal community to prevail on the Nigerian outgoing president, His Excellency Muhammadu Buhari to stop the inauguration ceremony of Bola Tinubu as president of Nigeria Federation.

It would be recalled that the presidential candidate of the Hope Democratic Party (HDP) in the 2019 presidential election, Ambrose Owuru filed a fresh suit at the Appeal Court to stop the inauguration of President-elect Bola Tinubu on May 29.

The presidential candidate of the defunct Hope Democratic Party (HDP) in 2019, Ambrose Owuru, requested the Court of Appeal in Abuja to stop the inauguration of Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate who was declared winner of the 2023 presidential election.

The suit marked CA/CV/259/2023 filed alongside Hope Democratic Party (HDP), is praying to the court for an order to stop the inauguration.

Owuru, who is a constitutional lawyer had earlier claimed he won the 2019 presidential election and had filed a suit, which is still pending in court, seeking to be declared President and sworn in, in the place of President Muhammadu Buhari.

In the latest suit, he prayed the Court of Appeal to prohibit Buhari, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), from inaugurating the 2023 President-elect on May 29.

Listed as respondents in the motion on notice are Buhari, the AGF and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami, and INEC.

In addition, he requested a second order declaring that any form of inauguration Buhari holds on May 29, 2023, will be treated as an “interim placeholder” administration while his substantive appeal is heard and decided.

An eight-paragraph affidavit supporting the request asks the Court of Appeal for a speedy hearing before Tinubu is sworn in.

In the affidavit deposed to by an Abuja-based legal practitioner, Adebayo Anafowode, Oworu said he was concerned that the pending lawsuit he filed against Buhari should be given a prompt hearing so it would not be rendered ineffective.

“The applicant (Owuru) as the adjudged winner of the February 16, 2019, presidential election reserves the right of first refusal over any later presidential election returns in the face of usurpation of adjudged acquired constitutional rights.”

The ICIR reported in January 2023 said an Abuja Federal High Court dismissed a suit filed by Owuru to challenge Buhari’s emergence as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2019.

The presiding judge, Justice Inyang Ekwo, threw out the suit on three significant grounds.

According to the judge, the suit constituted a gross abuse of the court process. He also held that it was statute barred and an affront to the supremacy of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

Justice Ekwo further held that the suit was baseless and frivolous.

Owusu had, in the suit, asked the court to declare the seat of the President vacant and swear him in as the authentic winner of the 2019 presidential election.

Additionally, he asked the court to rule on the legitimacy or otherwise of INEC’s 2019 decision to move the poll from February 16 to March 23.

Following the dismissal of the suit at the Federal High Court, Owuru filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal.

However, President Buhari has reiterated severally that he will hand over power come May 29. Buhari following this assertion inaugurated a presidential transition committee to preside over the transition process. The leader of the apex Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, Ayo Adebanjo, has also warned Nigerians to stop addressing Ahmed Bola Tinubu as president-elect, saying that currently there is no President-elect in Nigeria despite the declaration of the Independent National Electoral Commission.

Speaking in an interview with Arise TV, Pa Adebanjo described the 2023 presidential election as “a sham that will be pulled in due course.”

According to him, the INEC jettisoned constitutional methodology and must explain to Nigerians why it did the contrary.

“It is just the result of a bad government. A disaster that God will help us to get rid of. I can assure you there is no President-elect at all; it is just a sham that should be pulled in due course.

“This is a game we all see. We are all living witnesses to it. Why don’t you (INEC)follow the laws that have been provided to guide the elections?”

The nonagenarian stressed that Tinubu’s camp in their attempt to reply to the groundswell of criticisms that trailed his controversial announcement as the winner of the presidential election, picked up the messengers and left the messages which is the main issue.