Pius Akubo, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has rejected his appointment as a member of the 13 presidential election petition legal team of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Mr Akubo was listed by the ruling APC as one of the members of its 13 legal team to defend the president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
APC announced the legal team after the Peoples Democratic Party and the Labour Party had approached the court to challenge the victory of its presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, who was declared the winner of the February 25 presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Rejecting the appointment, Mr Akubo in a statement on Wednesday said he had no prior knowledge of the appointment nor has he received any official communication concerning the appointment from the APC.
According to Sahara Reporters, the senior advocate noted that he was surprised when he heard about his appointment to be part of the APC presidential election petition legal team on social media, hence, for personal reasons, he cannot accept the appointment.
The statement which has gone viral on the internet read, “In the last twenty-four (24) hours or so, the social media space has been agog with a trending unsigned letter in respect of appointment of Presidential Election Petition Legal Team by All Progressives Congress (APC) wherein my name is listed as number 10.
“With all due respect, I wish to state that I had no prior knowledge of the said appointment. As a matter of fact, I have not received any official communication on the subject matter hitherto. Suffice it to say that I was taken by surprise to hear of the said appointment via social media.
“In the circumstance, and for personal reasons, I hereby decline the said appointment.”
In the list released by the APC, Mr Akubo was placed at number 10 of the 13 Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) appointed to defend the president-elect.
