The Atiku/Okowa Campaign Organisation said that it would take the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, to court to prevent him from running in the February 25 presidential election.
At a press conference on Monday, the campaign’s Spokesperson, Kola Ologbondiyan, stated that Tinubu’s claimed conviction for drug charges by a US court disqualifies him from running.
The PDP claimed that it would urge the court to declare Tinubu ineligible to run in the 2023 election under Section 137 (1) (d) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
The Atiku/Okowa campaign also wants the court to order the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately delist Tinubu as the presidential candidate of the APC or any other political party and to remove his name from any election-related documents.
Allowing Tinubu to run in the upcoming elections, according to Ologbondiyan, is “fundamentally illegitimate, invalid, and must be erased immediately.”
He indicated that the PDP campaign council would seek an expedited hearing in this matter in the national interest.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the United States court in sentencing Tinubu ordered that the funds in the amount of $460,000 held by First Heritage Bank in the name of Bola Tinubu represent proceeds of narcotics trafficking or were involved in financial transactions in violation of 18 U.S.C. S1956 and 1957 and, therefore, these funds are forfeited to the United States pursuant to 21 U.S.C. S881(a)(6) and 18 U.S.C.
The PDP spokeswoman said Tinubu “made no action to fight the verdict, but acceded to the confiscation of the $460,000 adjudged to be the proceeds of drugs trafficking.
You may also recall that our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had already established that the presidential candidate of the APC, having been found guilty and having pleaded guilty by way of forfeiture of the $460,000, is mandatorily required to carry out the consequential effect of that conviction by virtue of Section 137 (1) (d) of the 1999 Constitution because Nigeria is a signatory to International Convention (as amended).
For the avoidance of doubt, Section 137 (1) (d) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) states: “(1) A person shall not be qualified for election to the office of president if….(d) He is under a sentence of death imposed by any competent court of law or tribunal in Nigeria or a sentence of imprisonment or fine for any offence involving dishonesty or fraud (by whatever name called), or for any other offence, imposed on him by any court or tribunal or substituted by
