Democracy Will End in Nigeria If Tinubu is Sworn-in- Yusuf Datti

Datti insisted that Tinubu didn’t meet all the constitutional requirements for him to be declared the President-elect.

This is as Datti called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the Chief Justice of the Federation to not take part in an unconstitutional act by swearing in the president-elect on May 29, 2023.

He made these remarks during his appearance on the Channels Television Programme, ‘Politics Today,’ on Wednesday, March 22, 2023.

This comes after the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, declared Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) winner of the February 25, 2023 election.

Yakubu announced that the President-elect had met all the Constitutional requirements for a candidate to be declared winner, including scoring 25% of votes cast in two-thirds of each of the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

However, Datti, whose party has submitted a petition to the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) to challenge Tinubu’s victory, warned that democracy will end on May 29, 2023, if Tinubu is sworn in as the president.

He premised his argument on the claim that the former Lagos State governor wasn’t properly elected as he, according to him, failed to achieve 25% of votes cast in the FCT, as required by Section 134 of the 1999 Constitution.

He further stated that he doesn’t believe his party would get justice in court and therefore suggested that it’d be “better for the military to take over power” on May 29, than swearing in the President-elect.

Datti’s words: “There is no president-elect in Nigeria because the declared one violates the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and I know what I’m saying. The constitution is there, everybody is reading it as I speak.

“I’m not therefore behaving illegally or unconstitutionally. To the contrary, I’m supporting constitutionality. It’s in fact better for the powers that be to go and create additional 6% out of thin air and rig it back to Tinubu and therefore swear him in on 25% than to take risk of swearing in a so-called President-elect that has not met the constitutional requirement.

“Swearing in Tinubu and Shettima is as good as swearing in the Nigerian Army on the 29th of May. If you swear in people that have not satisfied the constitutional requirements, you have by so doing ended democracy. The crisis I’m telling you now is that this our democracy is going to end by the way we’re going. This democracy is going to end on the 29th of May, 2023, please write it.”