Nigeria: 2023 – Tinubu’s Candidacy Illegal – PDP

The All Progressives Congress has no legally valid presidential candidate for the February 2023 election, the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said.

The party’s spokesperson, Debo Ologunagba, stated this at a press conference in Abuja on Saturday.

He said the nomination of Mr Tinubu as well as the election of the Abdullahi Adamu-led national working committee was illegal since they could be traced to the defunct APC Caretaker Committee chaired by Governor Mala Buni of Yobe State.

He cited a ruling on 30 September by the Federal in Abuja which nullified the candidature of Governor Gboyega Oyetola in the 16 July Osun State Governorship election – on grounds that his nomination was invalid, having been conducted and submitted by then APC chairman, Mai Mala Buni – who is also the Yobe State governor.

This act, he said, violates Section 183 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).

The Section states that a state governor “shall not, during the period when he holds office, hold any other executive office or paid employment in any capacity whatsoever.”

Mr Ologunagba said the court ruling means that every decision made by Mr Buni as Chairman of the APC is null and void·

“Consequently, the congresses as well as the National Convention which produced APC excos including the Adamu Abdullahi-led NWC are void,” he said.

“In effect the primaries and Presidential Convention conducted by the Adamu Abdullahi-led NWC, including the nomination of Bola Tinubu as presidential candidate of the APC is invalid, null and void ab-initio.”

Mr Tinubu, he added, has nothing to offer “being the architect of the woes, calamities and life-discounting experiences faced by Nigerians in the last seven and half years.”

He asked Mr Tinubu to go home and face the issues of inconsistencies in his educational qualifications, name, ancestry, age as well as corruption allegations.

Mr Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State, was elected as the APC flag-bearer on 8 June after beating 13 other candidates including the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and former Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi.

The primary was organised by the Adamu-led NWC.

Efforts to get the spokesperson of the APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), Festus Keyamo, to react to the indictment by the PDP were unsuccessful.

Another spokesperson of the PCC, Bayo Onanuga, did not also pick calls to his mobile telephone.

While the two parties have been at loggerheads with each other all week, they are also making plans to commence campaigns in the coming week.

The PDP earlier announced that it would kickoff campaigns in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital on Monday.

The APC is, however, yet to announce its plans but spokesperson and members of the party have assured that campaigns would start soon.

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