“For the purpose of clarity and to set the record straight, the name “Chibuike Nwachukwu” on the suit is not me.”
By Emma Ogbuehi
Mr. Chibuike Nwachukwu, former Imo State chairman of the defunct Abundant Nigeria Renewal Party (ANRP), on Saturday, said he was not one of the five residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) who went to court this week to stop Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s inauguration on May 29 as President of Nigeria.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) winner of the February 25 presidential poll.
But on Friday, some residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) prayed a Federal High Court in Abuja to stop Tinubu’s inauguration.
The residents represented by Anyaegbunam Ubaka Okoye, David Aondover Adzer, Jeffrey Oheobeh Ucheh, Osang Paul and Chibuike Nwachukwu, are seeking a court order restraining the Chief Justice of Nigeria and any judicial officer and/or any authority or persons from swearing in any candidate in the February 25 presidential election as president or vice president.
They said this was to judicially determine with finality in accordance with the provisions of Section 134(2)(b) of the Nigerian Constitution that such candidate fulfilled the requirements of the constitution.
They also want an order of the court “setting aside or suspending any declaration and/or issuance of a certificate of return to any candidate in the February 25th presidential election in the country or having been elected save and except it is judicially determined with finality that such candidate fulfilled the conditions stated at Section 134(2)(b) of the Constitution.”
But without any prejudice to the matter in court, Mr. Nwachukwu said he is not the Chibuike Nwachukwu listed as one of the plaintiffs.
Disassociating himself from the suit, the former ANRP chairman said he had been inundated with calls from friends and associates who wanted to ascertain if he was one of the plaintiffs.
While not dismissing the possibility that there could indeed be another Chibuike Nwachukwu among the petitioners, he said he had nothing to do with it.
In a statement he sent to TheNiche, Mr. Nwachukwu said, “My attention was drawn by series of phone calls from friends and associates to a media publication wherein the name, Mr. Chibuike Nwachukwu was included among the five plaintiffs challenging the election and inauguration of Bola Tinubu as President of Nigeria on May 29, 2023 and seeking to extend the tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari.
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“For the purpose of clarity and to set the record straight, the name “Chibuike Nwachukwu” on the suit is not me. My original names are Mr. Chibuike John Nwachukwu.
“I never at any time authorised anyone, my lawyers to include my name on the Suit.
“I am a citizen of Nigeria from Imo State and I voted in my village in Ahiazu Mbaise LGA of Imo State during the 2023 presidential election.
“Based on the foregoing, it is clear that I exercised my voting right in Imo State and not in the FCT, thus I cannot be a member of the group called FCT Voters/Residents.
“Also, I could not have been among the so called FCT Residents who went to court to stop Mr. Tinubu’s Inauguration and seek President Buhari’s tenure extension, when I never registered as a voter in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, in the first place.
“I am also currently on political sabbatical, and have never joined any political party since the ANRP became defunct.
“I hereby dissociate myself from the Suit and call on the general public to disregard it.”