In a statement released on Wednesday by the faction’s spokesman, Abayomi Arabambi, the faction made it clear that it disavowed the demands for an interim government and the protests demanding that Tinubu not be sworn in on May 29 until the presidential election tribunal’s petitions had been resolved.
The Labour Party’s Lamidi Apapa faction has claimed that Bola Tinubu’s swearing in as “President-Elect” won’t likely have any bearing on the ongoing legal dispute over the presidential election between their group, the All Progressives Congress, and the Independent National Electoral Commission.
In a statement released on Wednesday by the faction’s spokesman, Abayomi Arabambi, the faction made it clear that it disavowed the demands for an interim government and the protests demanding that Tinubu not be sworn in on May 29 until the presidential election tribunal’s petitions had been resolved.
Abayomi Arabambi explained that the Electoral Act and the Constitution of Nigeria did not give room for a vacuum, noting whether the President-elect was sworn in or not, there was right to remove him legally if it was found out that he was not duly elected.
The spokesman who cited sections 136 and 146 of the constitution, Arabambi said only death and permanent incapacity can stop a President-elect from being sworn in, recalled how the court removed Chris Ngige and confirmed Peter Obi as the governor of Anambra in 2003.
The LP factional spokesman stressed that, “What Peter Obi is crying for is not supported by the law.” He said that refusing to appoint Tinubu as president would leave a void in the government and that the law detested this.
“The law does not provide for interim president in this circumstance, 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. “Labour Party advises all individuals clandestinely parading themselves as LP members and other Obidients who may be protesting that the “President-elect” should not be sworn in to have a rethink as Labour Party will not support any unlawful means of agitations or change of government violently.
“The LP would continue to pursue its case in court,” Arabambi stated.
