Peter Obi failed to prove how he got majority votes — Tribunal …as it rejects EU report presented by LP

By Iyojo Ameh

In a significant legal development, the Nigeria Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT), convened in the nation’s capital, Abuja, has reached a verdict on the case brought by the Labour Party (LP) and its presidential candidate, Mr.

Peter Obi, against President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Chaired by Justice Haruna Tsammani, the tribunal delivered a ruling stating that Mr.

Peter Obi and the Labour Party failed to substantiate their claims that he rightfully won the election and was unjustly denied victory due to alleged irregularities by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The tribunal also dismissed LP and Obi’s petition, which hinged on the requirement for candidates to secure 25 percent of the vote in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to win the presidential election.

Justice Tsammani emphasized that FCT residents do not possess any special privileges, as asserted by the petitioners.

Additionally, during the judgment, the tribunal rejected the inclusion of the European Union (EU) Election Observers Mission’s report on the February 25, 2023 presidential election, which Mr. Peter Obi and the Labour Party had submitted as evidence. The rejection was based on the fact that the document had been obtained from the tribunal’s registry, certified by a staff member without original custody of the EU mission’s report.

The tribunal also dismissed 18088 blurred result sheets presented by the petitioners, contending that they were not linked to specific polling units, which the petitioners failed to specify in their complaint. The tribunal pointed out that the petitioners’ claim of being unable to identify polling units due to the blurred result sheets was contradicted by one of their own witnesses, who had apparently sourced and analyzed the same results from INEC’s results viewing platform.

Moreover, given that the petitioners’ agents had acknowledged signing for and collecting copies of the result sheets, the tribunal concluded that the petitioners could not legitimately assert ignorance about the affected polling units but had chosen not to specify them in their petition.

In a related matter, the panel led by Justice Haruna Tsamani also dismissed the drug trafficking suit filed by Mr. Peter Obi, in which he had alleged Tinubu’s involvement in a drug trafficking case leading to the forfeiture of $460,000 to the United States government. Justice Tsamani’s ruling cited a letter issued by the US Embassy in 2003 as supporting evidence.

This drug trafficking allegation had been one of the central issues in the LP’s petition against Tinubu’s declaration as president-elect following Nigeria’s February 25 presidential election.