A human rights activist, Festus Ogun, has said that nothing can stop the inauguration of the Nigeria’s President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, on May 29, 2023.
The human rights lawyer said this via his Facebook page on Tuesday.
According to Ogun, approaching the court to stop Bola Tinubu’s inauguration is a gross abuse of court process.
“These arguments and insinuations that the President-elect ought not be inaugurated because of the obviously flawed electoral process and pending cases at the Tribunal are nonsensical,” Ogun said.
He added, “This is an open invitation to tyranny which we must strongly reject in the interest of our tottering democracy.”
He continued that “Once INEC declares a ‘winner’, there is a presumption of regularity in favour of INEC which can only be rebutted at the Tribunal. While we wait for the outcome of the cases in court, the law says the president-elect should be inaugurated and begin the country’s administration.
“I am tempted to ask: What if Bola Tinubu is successful at the Tribunal? While this is not a certainty, it is a legal probability. Since the presumption of regularity is yet to be rebutted, the only legal and constitutional route is to allow the president-elect to take over the control of governmental machineries. Anything short of this will spell doom and disaster. We must avert that.”
Ogun said, “If the Tribunal later declares that Obi or Atiku is the winner of the election, then Tinubu is mandated to leave office immediately, if he chooses not to exercise his right of appeal. We cannot on the alter of political interests, compromise the sacred standard of peace and order provided by the constitution.
“We must not destroy what is left of this country, especially at this perilous moment of our national history. We must not forget that we are not merely operating a democracy, we are operating a constitutional democracy where the rule of law must prevail over all personal views and sentiments.
“Under our extant laws, Bola Tinubu’s inauguration is not only imperative, it is non-negotiable. This, however, does not mean that he cannot later be sacked from office. Pending that time, we must be properly guided by law. Those fanning embers of war and making desperate invitation to anarchy must sheath their swords immediately. We cannot afford to institutionalize tyranny, violence and chaos – in the best interest of our country.”
