By David Kabiyesi
The oppositions, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party(LP) have berated lawyers of the ruling All Progressive Congress(APC) over plans to intimidate the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), insisting that Nigeria will not descend into anarchy if Tinubu is removed from office.
APC lawyers had stated clearly that Niget8a could be thrown into crisis and anarchy if President Tinubu is legally removed from office. But the opposition has charged PEPC not to succumb to such threats.
“The statement by the lawyers in the said written address, threatening crisis and anarchy in the country in the event of the court ruling that their clients did not meet the constitutionally required 25 percent votes in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), is subversive, an affront to democratic order and assault on the corporate existence of the nation.”
PDP in its statement also urged PEPC to go ahead with its judgment saying:
“It is alarming and disturbing that the APC externalized to the public their final written address, in which they also threatened national peace, if the court upholds the clear provisions of Section 134 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), about mandatory and statutory requirements for which a candidate in a presidential election can be declared the winner.” PDP national publicity secretary, Debo Ologunagba, declared.
Labour stressed that the rule of law must be maintained tall cost saying:
“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.
