APC appoints Lateef Fagbemi, Wole Olanipekun, 10other SANs to defend Tinubu’s mandate
The ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, has appointed 12 Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) to defend the mandate of its presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in the just concluded election.
It will be recalled that Tinubu polled 8,794,726 votes in 12 of Nigeria’s 36 states, higher than his closest rival, Atiku Abubakarof the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
While the former vice president came second with 6,984,520 votes, the candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Peter Obi, finished the race with 6,101,533.
Both Atiku and Obi have rejected the outcome of the election, vowing to seek redress in court.
But the ruling party, in its readiness to defend the mandate, said it is willing to meet the opposition parties in court.
In a statement on Tuesday, the party’s National Legal Adviser, Ahmad Usman El-Marzuq, released the 13-man list comprising 12 senior advocates.
Top on the list is a legal icon, Wole Olanipekun, who is also the lead counsel to the ruling party at the Presidential Election Tribunal.
“The All Progressives Congress (APC) has appointed a team of highly qualified and experienced lawyers to represent the Party at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal,” the statement read.
“The team is composed of legal luminaries with vast experience in election petition matters, constitutional law, and litigation.
“The legal team consisting of twelve (12) Senior Advocates of Nigeria and the National Legal Adviser of the Party, Ahmad Usman El-Marzuq, Esq., is led by Prince Lateef Fagbemi SAN, a renowned lawyer who has successfully handled various high-profile election matters and other landmark cases.”
Other members of the list are Ahmad Usman El-Marzuq, Sam Ologunorisa, Rotimi Oguneso, Olabisi Soyebo, GboyegaOyewole, Muritala Abdulrasheed, Aliyu Omezia Saiki, TajudeenOladoja, Pius Akubo, Oluseye Opasanya, Suraju Saida and Kazeem Adeniyi.
In the meantime, a member of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo, has explained why he was not among the legal practitioners appointed by the party to defend the President-elect, Bola Tinubu in court.
No fewer than 13 experienced legal practitioners have been listed by the All Progressive Congress (APC) to represent the party at the election petition tribunal.
However, some Nigerians have mocked Keyamo on social media that he failed to make the list in spite of his support for Tinubu and the APC.
Reacting, Keyamo said he was not on the list because he is still a serving minister.
According to him, the Constitution does not allow a serving minister to be listed as a member of a private legal team.
However, he informed that he could join the legal team after May 29, when his tenure must have expired.
“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 29th,” Keyamo said in a tweet on Tuesday.
