President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has invited all presidential candidates in the February 25 election including Peter Obi of the Labour Party and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to his May inauguration in Abuja.
Tinubu’s aide, Bayo Onanuga, stated this while reacting to the Supreme Court ruling that disqualified the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP’s suit seeking to disqualify his principal ahead of the May 29 inauguration.
Earlier, the supreme court has dismissed the suit seeking the disqualification of Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Kashim Shettima as presidential and vice-presidential candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
A five-member panel of the supreme court held that the PDP and its presidential candidate lacked the locus standi to institute the suit.
The panel said the PDP is not a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC)
Reacting in a terse statement on twitter, Onanuga said the Supreme Court has cleared the booby trap hanging over Tinubu and Vice President-elect Kashim Shettima’s inauguration on Monday.
He added that with the Supreme Court ruling, Onanuga invited the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar and his Labour Party counterpart, Peter Obi, to Tinubu’s inauguration.
Onanuga further said the history of what was meant to happen in 1993 would be enacted on Monday with Tinubu’s inauguration as president.
“Breaking: Supreme Court dismisses PDP’s suit seeking to disqualify President-Elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Vice President-elect Kashim Shettima over Shettima’s alleged double nomination.
“With this ruling, the apex court has cleared the final booby trap to Bola Tinubu and Shettima’s inauguration on Monday. We invite Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi and other democrats to join us in marking this historic event, the re-enactment of what would have been in 1993,” he tweeted.
BREAKING : SUPREME COURT DISMISSES PDP’S SUIT SEEKING TO DISQUALIFY PRESIDENT ELECT BOLA AHMED TINUBU AND VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT KASHIM SHETTIMA OVER SHETTIMA’S ALLEGED DOUBLE NOMINATION. WITH THIS RULING, THE APEX COURT HAS CLEARED THE FINAL BOOBY TRAP TO BOLA TINUBU AND… PIC.TWITTER.COM/3IW3JAETCN
— Bayo onanuga (@aonanuga1956) May 26, 2023
Meanwhile, the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja has ordered the merger of the cases filed by Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi and the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) to challenge Bola Tinubu’s victory as Nigeria’s president-elect.
The five-member panel of the court headed by Haruna Tsammani cited time constraint as the basis for its decision, in a ruling on Tuesday.
The court has 180 days from the time the three petitions were filed in mid-March to conclude the hearing and deliver its judgement.
In a ruling detailing a report of its pre-hearing session on Mr Obi’s petition, on Tuesday, the court ordered a consolidation of the three pending petitions.
The panel’s chair, Mr Tsammani, citing Paragraph 50 of the First Schedule of the Electoral Act 2022, said the interest of justice would be served by a merger of the petitions.
The petitioners – Atiku, Obi and APM – are urging the court to nullify Mr Tinubu’s victory owing to alleged rampant malpractices during the conduct of the 25 February presidential election.
They accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of manipulating the electronic process in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Tinubu.
Atiku, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) came second in the race, while Labour Party’s Obi came third.
