Court Cases Won’t Stop Buhari from Handing Over to Tinubu, Shettima – FG

The Federal Government says that despite the court petitions filed by the Labour Party, it won’t stop President Buhari from handing over power to Tinubu. They gave the assurance that the transition of power from the President, General Muhammadu Buhari, to the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, would be smooth and peaceful.

Recall that the presidential candidates for the opposition parties sued the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over alleged rigging of the elections. 

INEC declared the presidential candidate for APC, Bola Tinubu with a total of 8,794,726 whereas his other rivals and candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, polled 6,984, 520 and 6,101,533 respectively.

Boss Mustapha, the Chairman of the Transition Committee said while addressing journalists in Abuja, that the litigation would not stop the hand-over ceremony from taking place.

“The committee has been active and the refurbishment of offices for the President and Vice-President elect has been completed”. He said.

He said that the facility at the Defence House is ready and the security personnel of the Department of State Services and the Nigerian Police Force have also been deployed to the President and Vice-President elect.

He added that protocol officers from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Intelligence Agency have also been assigned to both the President-elect and Vice-President-elect.

He said, “The transition process is on course and all efforts are being made to ensure that it is smooth. On May 29, there would be a peaceful formal transfer of power to the new President.”

Mustapa stressed that all litigation whether resolved or not will not stop the process as the president would not spend an extra day in office. He also said that the security sub-committee had been saddled with the responsibility to ensure no one truncates the hand-over.

According to Musatapha, a constitutional crisis would not be created as the hand-over would take place on May 29th. He said the process would not be abated and stressed the fact whoever has lost an election can make a legal inquiry through the provided avenues.

He added that four members of the President-elect’s team would be joining the FG delegation to the Spring meeting of the World Bank as part of the transition.

He also revealed that the president-elect has nominated Wale Edun and the governor of Kebbi State, Atiku Bagudu to be part of the transition committee.