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‘Tinubu will be sworn in as president,’ Keyamo replies Onaiyekan
The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, declared on Thursday that the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, would be sworn into office on May 29.
Keyamo was reacting to a statement credited to the former Catholic Archbishop of Abuja Diocese, John Onaiyekan, on the controversy trailing the outcome of the February 25 election.
Onaiyekan, who spoke on a Channels Television’s programme, Sunrise Daily, earlier on Thursday, said it “makes no sense” for Tinubu to be sworn in before the presidential election petition tribunal concludes hearing on the complaints filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and its Labour Party’s counterpart, Peter Obi.
However, in a series of tweets on his Twitter handle, the minister accused Onaiyekan of bias against the president-elect.
READ ALSO: Tribunal sets date to hear Atiku, Obi’s petitions against Tinubu’s election victory
He wrote: “All issues raised against the victory of Tinubu in court now (whether it is 25% votes in FCT or the fake drug issue, etc), are not different from issues raised against previous presidents-elect because basically, the complaints have always been that the declared victor did not win the election fair and square or was not qualified to contest the election.
“No disqualifying issue against a candidate can be greater than other disqualifying issues since a single issue can decide a case against a President-elect.
“So, why all the fuss now? It has always been our electoral template since 1999 for the declared winners to be sworn into office in order to avoid a vacuum and not to foist an unconstitutional contraption on the system whilst the cases are in court.”
Dear daddy Onaiyekan, you know we all respect you a lot, but your political comments are becoming unstatesmanlike.
A statesman who doubles as a Man of God should strive to be fair to all. You didn’t say the same thing when Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Jonathan and Buhari were all sworn… https://t.co/jseOmH0FRC
— Festus Keyamo, SAN (@fkeyamo) May 4, 2023
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