Abuja residents drag Tinubu to court to stop his inauguration, Lawyer reacts

Some residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have dragged Bola Tinubu, the president-elect, to the federal high court sitting in Abuja, asking the court to stop his inauguration, which was scheduled for May 29. In the document of the motion shared by a lawyer, Balogun Sofiyullahi, Esq.,

on his Twitter page on Friday, May 12, the applicants want the court to stop Tinubu from being sworn in as the next Nigeria president over his failure to secure 25% of votes in the FCT.

One of the arguments of the opposition parties at the ongoing presidential election petition court was that Tinubu did not secure 25% of the votes in the FCT and, therefore, could not be sworn in as president.

Prominent legal practitioners have shared different perspectives, including Femi Falana, who argued that the FCT did not have a special status and that it shall be treated as a state, as explained in the Nigerian constitution.

Despite the position of the senior advocate, both Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party have argued that Tinubu cannot be sworn it because he did not get 25% of the votes in the FCT.

Sharing the document on Friday after, Sofiyullahi said:

"Some Abuja residents have approached the Federal High Court in a bid to stop the swearing-in of @officialABAT.

"This is on the basis that he failed to secure 25% in FCT, Abuja. "This is a matter that is before the Tribunal & only it has jurisdiction over post-election matters."