The Labour Party’s Lamidi Apapa faction has distanced itself from calls for an interim government and demands that President-elect Bola Tinubu not be sworn in on May 29, pending the outcome of the petitions before the presidential election tribunal.
According to a Labour Party faction, Tinubu’s inauguration “may have no impact on the ongoing legal squabble over the presidential election involving our party, APC, and INEC.”
The faction’s spokesman, Abayomi Arabambi, stated in a statement made available to journalists on Wednesday that the Electoral Act and the Nigerian Constitution do not allow for a vacuum, and that “whether the President-elect is sworn in or not, there is the right to remove him legally if it is necessary.”
discovered that he had not been duly elected.”
Arabambi recalled how, in 2003, the court deposed Chris Ngige and installed Peter Obi as governor of Anambra.
Arabambi stated that only death and permanent incapacity can prevent a President-elect from being sworn in, citing sections 136 and 146 of the constitution.
According to the LP factional spokesman, “what Peter Obi is crying for is not supported by the law.”
“A refusal to swear in Tinubu as President will create a vacuum in the system,” he said, adding that “the law abhors this.”
While emphasizing that the law does not allow for an interim president in this situation, Arabambi stated that “even Peter Obi once benefited from the system of being sworn in despite pending petitions filed against him.”
Andy Uba represented him before the tribunal.”
“The law must be followed, which is to swear Tinubu in as president, and if anyone wants to change the narrative, they must change the law,” he said.
He went on to say, “Labour Party warns all Obidiots clandestinely parading as LP members and other Obidients who may be agitating that the President-elect should not be sworn in to reconsider as Labour Party will not support any unlawful means of agitation or violent change of government.”
Arabambi stated that the LP would continue to litigate its case.