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Nigerian Presidency anxious of court injunctions which might stop transition ceremony as 65 heads of states invited warns that the FG will ignore such judicial orders
The Chairman of the Presidential Transition Committee (PTC) and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, on Thursday during a world press conference in Abuja said the Federal Government will ignore any court injunction.
The presidential election results are currently being challenged in court by two opposition parties, the Labour Party(LP) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
“In spite of ongoing litigations and protests, the inauguration of the “President-elect” and his deputy, Bola Tinubu and Kashim Shettima, would hold as scheduled on May 29.” He said.
“The upcoming event is historically significant to this great nation and the international community, particularly Africa because of the democratic values and lessons in nationhood. For these reasons, we have chosen, ‘NIGERIA: Better Together’, as the theme for the 2023 transition.
“I am delighted to inform you that May 29, 2023 will mark the 7th consecutive democratic transition of power in Nigeria and on that day, we shall all be ushering in the 16th President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.” Mustapha added.
“Let me say without any fear of contradiction, there will be an Inauguration on 29th of May. We will proceed with the inauguration of President-elect Tinubu and the litigation will continue. Our Constitution and Electoral Act have dealt with that. Our laws are sacrosanct.” The SGF stated.
As part of the build up to the change of baton, President Muhammadu Buhari will on Thursday May 25, confer the National Honours of GCFR and GCON respectively on Tinubu and Shettima.
Mustapha said in demonstration of this commitment, the President has directed all relevant government institutions to cooperate with and support the transition process through engagement with the President-Elect’s team.
In addition, he announced that the PTC has established three main committees namely — Inauguration Committee under Chairmanship of the SGF, Transition Documents Committee under the Chairmanship of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and the Security, Facilities and Intelligence Committee under the Chairmanship of the National Security Adviser.
A director in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed to the Nigerian Punch outlet on Thursday that several African leaders had indicated interest in attending the inauguration ceremony which would take place at Eagle Square, Abuja.
“We have 54 countries in Africa and most of them have been invited to the inauguration; so, we don’t expect less than 65 world leaders from Africa, Europe and America at the event,’’ said the director, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the issue.
“Diplomatic privileges will not allow us to announce the number of presidents or who is coming because of the precarious times we are in today,” stated Mustapha. “However, there is enthusiasm and eagerness to come and support Nigeria to sustain its democracy. So we have a responsibility to get it right.”
Massive street protests are currently being organised by various opposition groups.
Akowe with reports from Abuja
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