IBUKUNOLUWA KING-OKUNEYE
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Abdullahi Adamu has lambasted the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, over its move to disqualify the ruling party’s presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu from the 2023 presidential election.
Adamu stated that PDP’s call for Tinubu’s disqualification was mischievous
He declared that Tinubu can’t be disqualified because he emerged as APC presidential candidate after a duly organised national convention.
PDP had instituted a suit calling for Tinubu’s disqualification over his decision to replace his running mate.
Tinubu placed Kabiru Masari as his placeholder ahead of the deadline for submission of running mates by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
However, after some consultations, Tinubu replaced Masari’s name with former Borno governor, Senator Kashim Shettima as his substantive running mate.
As a result, PDP dragged INEC to court, praying that the commission should disqualify Tinubu from the presidential race.
Featuring on Arise Television, Abdullahi said: “The laws of this land are absolutely clear. No matter how mischievous anyone of us wants to be, there is the law. As far as the APC is concerned, we had a convention where a candidate was chosen for an election.
“Within the legal space available to us and to give us room to assess the candidates that will be desirous for our running mate or vice presidential candidate, we had to submit a name that will hold the position for our nomination. The laws of INEC do allow for this. If it doesn’t, we won’t contemplate.
“It is within the confine and dictates of our electoral laws in this country. It is not something to lose sleep over. We now have a running mate that we have submitted to the INEC. Simple! If you say the PDP has gone to court, let the court decides on the case. It is subjudice anyway.”