No Amount Of Threat Can Change The Law, LP Tells Tinubu, APC

The Labour Party (LP) has told President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) that resort to threat on the judiciary will not change the processes and requirements of the law.

LP, which was reacting to the news making the round, from the final written address of Tinubu against the Labour Party’s petition pending at the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), accused him and APC of mounting pressure on the tribunal judges.

Tinubu’s lawyers were reportedly warning the justices handling Peter Obi’s petition that interpreting the law as provided for in the constitution on the 25 per cent of lawful votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, could “lead to absurdity, chaos, anarchy and alteration of the very intention of the legislature.”

But LP in a statement by acting National Publicity Secretary Obiora Ifoh, described it as act of desperation, “even when the matter is still pending in court.”

The party noted that the address ought to be in the exclusive custody of the court, but wondered why it was leaked to the media.

“The Labour Party thinks that the statement was unnecessary since the matter is already before the court, and going ahead to pontificate on it could be construed as interference in the duties and responsibilities of the judiciary.

“The truth of the matter is that there are no sentiments when it comes to matters of law. The law is the law and once the law has stipulated the manner and how a matter must be carried out, it must follow that pattern.

“If the law has stated the requirement that a presidential candidate must meet before he can be declared, there is no shortcut to it.

“Therefore, if the constitution which is the ground norm of the law in Nigeria has stated clearly that you must score at least, 25 per cent in FCT before the president can be declared, anything short of that cannot remedy it.

“It is on this note that we request, that caution must be applied by the camp of the APC in its subtle but very clear pressure believed, is being mounted on the judiciary to see the developments from its lense,” the party stated.

The party recalled that Tinubu, in his Democracy Day speech, equally threatened that “unnecessary illegal orders used to truncate or abridge democracy will no longer be tolerated.”

According to the LP, such threats amount “whipping the judiciary into a pathway, a development if allowed unchallenged will spell doom for the nation.”

It considered such statement as “a call on the armies of the APC to awaken to their sworn vow to return to the trenches just the way they unleashed terror on our supporters during the February election.”

The party told the APC and their leaders that “if there were no ‘absurdity, chaos, and anarchy’ when they forced their way into power, Nigeria will still witness peace when they are eventually evicted from power.”