From Our Correspondent in Abuja
Mr Peter Obi and his Labour Party suffered a major defeat on Wednesday as the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) dismissed their allegation of irregularities in the Feb. 25 election, TheNewsZenith reports.
Justice Abba Mohammed, one of the five justices court, which read the ruling on the petition said the petitioners made generic allegations of irregularities against the respondent without specifying the polling units.
“The petitioners alleged irregularities and will use spreadsheets, inspection reports and forensic analysis as evidence in the trial.”
He said Obi and LP did not give adequate details on their allegations. The petitioners had alleged fictitious results, vote suppression, corrupt practices and other irregularities.
The court also dismissed the petition of the ruling APC challenging the eligibility of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, to contest the 2023 general election.
The APC had challenged Obi’s membership of LP, declaring it incompetent.
But Justice Mohammed said membership in a political party is an internal affair.
President Bola Tinubu and Vice-President Kashim Shettima had argued that they had the locus standi to institute the petition on grounds that Obi only joined the LP a few days before the election, instead of the mandatory 30 days.
However, the court held that it was not the prerogative of Tinubu and Shettima to challenge Obi’s candidacy.
Mohammed said, “The issue of membership of a political party is an internal party affair.”
PEPC also expunged from its records, a European Union (EU) Election Observers Mission’s report on the last presidential election.
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The LP and its presidential candidate had tendered the report in their petition against the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) and its candidate, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The Court Chairman, Haruna Tsammani, held that the petitioners obtained the document from its registry. According to the court, its staff, who certified the document, “is not person with original custody of the EU-mission’s document”.
It should be recalled that Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had earlier tendered the actual copy while prosecuting their petition before the court.
The court also rejected 18,088 blurred results sheets tendered by the petitioners. It ruled the petitioners did not tied the documents to any polling units, to which the results related.
This, the court ruled, the petitioners failed to specify in their petition.
Tsammani held that the petitioners lied that they could not identify the polling units due to blurred result sheets.
He said one of the same petitioners’ witness actually produced a report, in which he analysed the same results. The witness claimed he sourced results from INEC’s results viewing platform.
The court said it has no power to create additional grounds to disqualify any candidate standing for an election.
Tsammani noted that the Supreme Court had resolved the issue of double nomination of Vice President Shettima.
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Meanwhile, PEPC rejected argument of Allied Peoples Movement (APM) that it had right to relitigate the issue before it (PEPC). This is because APM said it was not joined as party in the case decided by the Supreme Court.
The PEPC chairman explained further that it was clear the APM was not a party to the case. “But it is also clear that the same issue raised in the instant petition was the same as the one the Supreme Court resolved in the earlier case.
He also rejected the APM’s argument that the issue was not resolved in the lead judgement of the Supreme Court, explaining that a supporting judgement in which the matter was resolved was binding.
Tsammani added that it was clear from oral and documentary evidences that APM had not established allegation of double nomination against Shettima.
He said there was nothing in Nigerian constitution that stops a presidential candidate from replacing his running-mate within 90 days. And that there is nothing that invalidates the nomination of substitute within the stipulated period.
He resolved the sole issue of double nomination of Mr Shettima against the petitioner. He said it means the petition lacks merit.
Mr Tsammani said after pre-hearing session, the APM opened and closed its case with one witness on 21 June 2023.
He said none of the respondents called any witness, but only tendered some documents from the bar.
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