A human rights activist and leader of Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ndigbo International Royal Heritage Organisation (NIROH), Dr Paul Okoye, has called for final resolutions of all cases related to the conduct and outcome of February 25, 2023 Presidential election before swearing in the incoming President of Nigeria.
In a statement made available to newsmen in Awka, on Friday, Okoye situated the grounds for intervention to ensure non-swearing in of President-elect, Ahmed Bola Tinubu as President and Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces on May 29, next month, until all disputations arising from petitions against the declaration of the winner and losers.
He pointed out that the controversies on certain provisions of both the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the Electoral Act, 2022 are germane for such intervention to forestall the inauguration of Tinubu’s government to avoid unforeseen crises.
Okoye said: “Section 134 (b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) states that a candidate to emerge as the President, he must have “not less than one-quarter of the votes cast at the election in each of at least two-thirds of all the States in the Federation ‘and’ the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja”.
Furthermore, he quoted Chapter 6. Part 1, Section 137, 1(d) as stating clearly that “a person shall be disqualified if he has a sentence of imprisonment or fine for any offence involving dishonesty or
fraud (by whatever name called) or for any other offence, imposed on him by any court or tribunal or substituted by a competent authority for any other sentence imposed on him by such a court or tribunal.”
He claimed that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) overstepped its boundaries to declare Tinubu as the President,-elect, given such mandatory provisions of the law and guidelines.
The group, he said, would use the opportunity of today’s (Saturday) Italy Obi-Datti March tagged,
“SOS: On Democracy, We Stand”, to impress on the Italian leader Giorgia Meloni in particular and the international community on the need to intervene now as the “world cannot afford to watch Nigeria drift to a point of no return”.
“All hands must be on deck to leave a bequeathing legacy for the succeeding generation and, more especially, to avert the looming danger and catastrophe,” the group added
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