Mike Aondoakaa (SAN), a former Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and minister of justice has denied that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) erred in declaring Asiwaju Bola Ahmed the winner of the 2023 presidential election.
Aondoakaa claimed that information from a recent interview with Arise TV station, in which he allegedly slammed the presidential election outcome, was greatly exaggerated.
INEC declared Tinubu, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, the winner of the February 25 presidential election. However, the election’s outcome is currently being challenged in court by all of the major candidates.
Apart from the process of transmitting and collating the results, which opposition parties are disputing, the fact that Tinubu was unable to achieve 25% in Abuja became a contentious issue after the results were announced.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria, in a statement released by Aondoakaa’s Special Assistant Abdul Kohol Esq. in Makurdi on Tuesday, said he had to respond to misunderstandings and false claims in his interview because the election outcome is now in court.
His statement read:
It has become necessary to make this clarification flowing from the misconceptions and distortions being peddled on the social media concerning the live interview granted on Arise TV by Aondoakaa, SAN on a variety of public issues, on the 3rd March, 2023.
In the said interview, the TV anchor sought Aondoakaa’s opinion on a candidate winning 25% of the valid votes of Abuja, FCT as a necessary condition, among others before being declared a winner of the presidential election.
In response, Aondoakaa, SAN stated that the Supreme Court had in 2008 given interpretations as regards the conjunction “and” joining the larger part of the Subsection with the smaller part of; which the Supreme Court held to be “conjunctive” in view of the words used in Section 146(1) of the Electoral Act, 2006 and not “disjunctive”; however, Supreme Court has a right to depart from its previous decision depending on the facts of each case.
The statement added:
At no time did Aondoakaa state in the interview that it was wrong for the INEC to have declared the President-elect His Excellency, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu winner of the said Presidential elections.
Aondoakaa, SAN stated clearly that since the matter is in court it would be subjudice to delve further into it.
Aondoakaa further clarified during the interview that decisions of the Supreme Court are based on the facts/merits of the each case before it.
Throughout the interview, the TV anchor never asked about the validity of the declaration of the winner of the 2023 presidential election nor about the swearing-in of the winner of the election; and Aondoakaa, SAN never alluded to that effect.
It only smacks of mischief and/or ignorance on the part of anyone that tries to introduce untruths in the reading of the interview. Such persons should look for another avenue to pour vituperation on the election processes.
The statement concluded:
Aondoakaa holds the President Elect His Excellency Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Judiciary in very high esteem, and will never make comments on matters pending before the Courts of Justice.
A video clip of the interview is widely available on the Arise TV channel and YouTube platform; any interested person can watch it for further understanding.
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