The Lamidi Apapa-led faction of the Labour Party has distanced itself from the calls for an interim government and the agitations that the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, should not be sworn in on May 29, pending the determination of the petitions before the Presidential Election Tribunal sitting in Abuja.
The faction of the party, noted that the swearing-in of Tinubu “may not have any impact on the ongoing legal tussle on the presidential election involving our party, APC and INEC.”
LP in a statement made available to Vanguard in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, by the faction’s spokesman, Abayomi Arabambi, posited that the Electoral Act and the Constitution of Nigeria did not give room for a vacuum, “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.”
Arabambi recalled how the Court removed Chris Ngige and confirmed Peter Obi as the Governor of Anambra State in 2003. Citing sections 136 and 146 of the Nigeria Constitution, Arabambi said only death or permanent incapacity can stop a president-elect from being sworn in.
While positing that, “what Peter Obi is crying for is not supported by the law.” Arabambi noted 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.
While stressing that the law does not provide for interim president in this circumstance, 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 Obid#ots 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.