Hope Democratic Party,
HDP, one of the parties that participated in the February 23
Presidential election has asked the Supreme Court to stop the
inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari slated for Wednesday.
The
party prayed the apex court to restrain the President-elect from
presenting himself for swearing in ceremony pending the final
determination of petitions challenging the validity of his election.
In
a notice of appeal to Supreme Court, the party faulted the striking out
of its motion on the notice by the Presidential Election Petition
Tribunal on may 22, on ground of lack of merit.
In the appeal
filed on its behalf by Yusuf Ibrahim, HDP prayed for an order of the
apex court directing the Senate President or the Chief Justice of
Nigeria (CJN) to take over the rein of power pending the time all issues
arising from the last election would be fully resolved.
It also
prayed for another order setting aside the ruling of justice, Joseph
Ikyegh which on May 22, refused to stop the inauguration of Buhari.
In
the notice of appeal, filed on May 24, the HDP claimed that the
tribunal erred in law in striking out its motion without giving
cognizance to relevant law cited.
Specifically, the party
claimed that the tribunal failed to apply the extant provision of
section 25 of the Electoral Act 2010 mandatorily suspending and returns
of the questions election of February 23, 2019 presidential election
until the validity of the said election is determined by the tribunal
The
party claimed that “The court is under an unwavering duty to obey and
apply the expressed constitutional prohibitive and injunctive provision
of section 1(2) of the 1999 constitutional to safeguard and uphold the
sanctity of the constitution above any individual; or group interest
under any guise.”
However, the notice of appeal may have suffered
a setback as the registry of the tribunal refused to transmit the
notice of appeal to the Supreme Court.
The registry said the
notice will not be transmitted to the apex court until the party makes a
deposit of One Million Naira (N1M) for assessment of the record of
proceedings and transmitting same to Supreme Court as required by law.
But in a press statement, the HDP accused the tribunal of arbitraries and attempts to truncate its appeal.
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