Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) disclosed, yesterday, that it has approached the court to disqualify the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja, a spokesperson of the campaign, Kola Ologbondiyan, said by virtue of the “criminal conviction and sentencing by a court of competent jurisdiction in the United States over a criminal case of trafficking in narcotics for which Tinubu forfeited the sum of $460,000 to the State,” he is no longer qualified to contest any election in Nigeria.
Ologbondiyan said: “It is already established that trafficking in narcotics is an international crime of which all nations are obligated, by international conventions and statutes, to arrest, prosecute and implement any court judgment imposed on an offender anywhere in the world, as well as the consequential effects of such judgments.
“As you are all aware, Nigeria is a signatory to such international convention and, therefore, is mandatorily obligated to implement the consequential effect of the conviction imposed on Tinubu by a court of competent jurisdiction in the criminal case of trafficking in narcotics.”
The PDP campaign asked the court to compel Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately remove Tinubu as presidential candidate of the APC or any other political party, for that matter, and expunge his name from all materials and documents related to the 2023 presidential election.
Ologbondiyan said further: “From the declaration of the court and the sentencing, it is clear that Asiwaju Tinubu was summarily convicted by the court. He took no step to challenge the judgment but acceded to the forfeiture of $460,000.”
Explaining why Tinubu cannot contest the election, Ologbondiyan said: “For clarity, Section 137 (1) (d) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) provides that:(1) A person shall not be qualified for election to the office of President if…(d) He is under a sentence of death imposed by any competent court of law or tribunal in Nigeria or a sentence of imprisonment or fine for any offence involving dishonesty or fraud (by whatever name called) or for any other offence imposed on him by any court or tribunal or substituted by a competent authority for any other sentence imposed on him by such a court or tribunal.
“The import of the foregoing is that under the 1999 Constitution (as amended), having been so convicted and fined and having acceded to the sentencing by way of forfeiture of $460,000 and having not received any State pardon or acquittal by any court of competent jurisdiction, Asiwaju Tinubu remains a convict and the consequential effect is that he cannot contest election at any level in Nigeria.”
