Onaiyekan explains why Tinubu is not yet Nigeria’s legitimate President

Archbishop Emeritus of the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, has said that Bola Ahmed Tinubu is not yet Nigeria’s President until the election petition tribunal has finished its job.

Onaiyekan, a former president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), also noted that Tinubu is obviously labouring under a very serious liability of questionable legitimacy.

“Honestly, it is difficult to have any views on the activities of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu since, in my own opinion, he is not yet our president until the courts have finished their job and declared who is our president. He is obviously labouring under a very serious liability of questionable legitimacy,” Onaiyekan said.

The revered cleric noted that though Tinubu has been working in the capacity of the president since May 29, he will still await the election tribunal verdict before the Nigerian leader gets his full loyalty.

“The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, with the Electoral Law based on it, clearly makes provision for post-election petition tribunals. Candidates for election commit themselves to accepting the result of the election as declared by INEC, which is the agency of government with the authority to conduct elections.

“But the candidates are also told to take any grievances to the court if they are not satisfied with the decision of INEC. Right now, this is what Atiku, Obi and others have done. It was also a point strongly made at the two highly publicised declarations for peaceful election made by political parties at ceremonies anchored by the National Peace Committee before the elections.”

On the removal of Godwin Emefiele as governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Abdulraheed Bawa as chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, replacement of service chiefs, he said:

“The removal of Emefiele and Bawa is different from the removal of service chiefs from office. I understand that the service chiefs have served their tenure and normally have to be changed. As for Emefiele and Bawa, there are allegations against them as we can now see.

“Whichever way it goes, people in these positions are not supposed to be there forever. It is supposed to be good for the nation that they are changed after sometime. As for the security situation, the economy and the fight against corruption, we have not seen any move in any direction that is taking us out of the woods. We are still where we have been for the past ten years.”