Why I’m not among lawyers defending Tinubu’s mandate — Keyamo

Forum 1 year ago

Why I’m not among lawyers defending Tinubu’s mandate — Keyamo

Minister of State for Labour and Productivity, Festus Keyamo (SAN) has explained why his name is missing on the list of senior lawyers defending the victory of President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Recall that the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Tuesday released a 50-man list of lawyers to defend Tinubu.

The legal team is being led by former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Wole Olanipekun. The legal icon will lead 49 other lawyers to defend the victory of the Tinubu at the presidential election tribunal.

Olanipekun, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, with other legal luminaries to ensure that Tinubu prevailed over his arch rivals, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and Peter Obi of the Labour Party, LP, who have challenged his victory.

Tinubu, the standard bearer of APC, emerged as the winner of the presidential election held on Saturday, February 25, with 8, 794,726 votes to beat Atiku and Obi to the second and third positions with 6,984,520 and 6,101,533 scores respectively.

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, presented him with a Certificate of Return last week Wednesday.

Explaining the omission of his name on the 50-man list, Keyamo who doubles as the spokesman for the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council in a post via his verified Twitter handle on Tuesday said the Nigerian Constitution does not permit a serving minister to take on such roles.

He noted that serving cabinet members can only join the Election Petition team after the May 29 handover date.

For those who made inquiries, a serving Minister (by our Constitution) cannot be listed in any private legal team, though he/she can support the team in preparation. Hence, the present cabinet Ministers who are SANs can only formally join the Election Petition team after May