Godwin Tsa, Abuja

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The Hope Democratic Party (HDP) has asked the Supreme Court to stop the inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari slated for tomorrow in Abuja.
In a notice of appeal filed before the apex court, the party which participated in the February 23 presidential election, urged the court to stop the president-elect from presenting himself for swearing-in ceremony pending the final determination of petitions challenging the validity of his election.
A similar application by the party was dismissed by the presidential election petition tribunal for lacking in merit. But HDP, in its appeal, faulted the decision of the tribunal in its ruling delivered 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 Buhari’s inauguration.
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 election of February 23, 2019 presidential election until the validity of the said election is determined by the tribunal
“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 constitution 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 would not be transmitted to the apex court until the party makes a deposit of N1million 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.
The press statement signed by Sani Usman, its national publicity secretary, read: “It has come to our notice that our party/petitioner’s notice of appeal to the Supreme Court duly lodged and assessed by the tribunal registry since Friday 25/05/2019, after due payment of the filling fees, has been withheld by the tribunal registry, demanding just this Monday the deposit of N1million before any other step will be taken to issue date of settlement of records to ascertain the volume of documents to be transmitted to the Supreme Court in the interlocutory appeal arising from the said court ruling of May 22.
“This development appears arbitrary and unfortunate at this stage of our democratic experiment. It is like putting the cart before the horse and clear attempt to deny the petitioners/appellant their constitutional right of appeal on a subject deserving and towards improving our laws. We hope that our relief seeking order at the Supreme Court that either the Senate President or the chief Justice of Nigeria preside over or hold the rein of government until appeal is determined in accordance with the law as no vacuum is allowed in the government of a nation after May 29, 2019.