Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president and PDP candidate, said on Tuesday he wasn't concerned that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu would be sworn in as president on May 29 before petitions to overturn his election results are resolved.
Atiku expressed optimism that he would successfully defend his election in court despite the fact that he is now contesting Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC, as the legitimate victor of the presidential election that took place on February 25.
Speaking through his lead attorney, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, not long after the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, in Abuja, consolidated his petition with those filed by candidates for the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi, and the Allied Peoples Movement, APM, Atiku, Tinubu insisted that the court has the authority to remove him from office even after the oath of office.
The PDP candidate, through his legal team, stated: "I have been asked about May 29, I want to assure people that swearing in is only a ceremony that does not in any way tie the hands of the court. Full hearing on the three merged petitions will begin on May 30, a day after Tinubu's inauguration as President.
“The taking of oath binds the person who takes the oath and not the court
“The court has given you its timelines for parties to present their case. We are happy that with the development, the petitions will be expeditiously determined, ” Atiku’s lawyer, Uche, SAN, added.
It would be recalled that the five-member panel, led by Justice Haruna Tsammani, approved Atiku's request to use three weeks to present evidence before the court through 100 witnesses on Tuesday during the presentation of the panel's pre-hearing report.
In his joint petition with the PDP, titled CA/PEPC/05/2023, Atiku argued that Tinubu's declaration as the election's victor was "invalid due to non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022."
He said that Tinubu's election was illegitimate because of fraud.
Aside from praying the court to declare him winner of the presidential election, having secured the second highest number of votes cast, Atiku and the PDP, applied for the withdrawal of the Certificate of Return that was already issued to Tinubu by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
As the petitions seeking to void his election victory are heard, President-elect Tinubu has prohibited members of his legal team from speaking to reporters.
After the panel hinted that it might forbid both attorneys and members of the public from entering the courtroom with their mobile phones and other electronic devices, Chief Niyi Akintola, SAN, the lead attorney who represented the APC at the resumed proceedings on Tuesday, made the disclosure in open court.
The decision, according to Justice Tsammani, was made in order to maintain the dignity of the proceedings and to improve security inside the courtroom.
Responding, Chief Akintola, SAN, said: “My lords, that is why those of us that are representing the 2nd and 3rd respondents (Tinubu and APC), are acting on strict instructions.
“We have taken a decision not to talk to the press. We have 38 SANs in our team and my lords, in fact, the penalty for anyone that goes against the instruction and speaks to the press after every proceeding, is expulsion from the team,” he added.
