From Victor Osula, Abuja
Peter Obi’s Membership of Labour Party
After a 15-minutes break, the Presidential Election Petitions Court reconvened to take the judgement of the Labour Party petition. Reading the prayers sought by the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, a member of the panel of justices, Abba Mohammed, who read the ruling on the preliminary objections filed by the respondents against Peter Obi’s petition, declared that APC’s petition on Obi’s membership of LP is incompetent. Justice Abba said membership in a political party is an internal affair.
He said, “It is not within the rights of Tinubu and APC to question Obi’s membership of Labour Party.” Obi thus survived the issue of local standi when the Court said the issue of membership of a political party is an internal affair of the Party.
INEC At Liberty To Define Mode Of Transmitting Election Results
On the issue of substantial non-compliance with the provisions of the law, especially with regard to non-transmission of result sheets to INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV), the court held that there was no law that says INEC must transfer or transmit the results of the election from the polling units electronically. The law simply empowers INEC to decide the means of collation of results of elections, the court argued. The court added that the only device that must be used by INEC for elections is the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS). It noted that there’s no regulation showing BVAS must be used to electronically transmit results from polling units.
It said the Electoral Act gave room for manual collation of results, adding that electronic transmission is optional at best.
25 Per Cent of Abuja Vote
Presidential Tribunal Dismissed 25 per cent FCT case by Obi, saying that residents of Abuja don’t have special privileges. Every Nigerian is equal, the court said.
Obi, LP Failed To Prove Tinubu Was Convicted In US, Tribunal Rules.
The Presidential Election Petitions Court on Wednesday ruled that the Labour Party (LP) and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, failed to prove that President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was convicted for money laundering in the United States.
The five-man panel led by Justice Haruna Tsammani ruled that no record of criminal arrest or conviction was established against Tinubu by the petitioners, Obi and the LP.
The court has rejected the reports of forensic analyses tendered by LP’s three witnesses. According to the court, they are either made during the pendency of the case or by an interested party.
This is as it rejected the European Union report on the polls, arguing that it was not tendered by an official of the body.
Atiku Abubakar Connection
The Tribunal also touched on the issue of non-joinder of Atiku Abubakar who came second and wondered how Obi and LP’s petition could be effectively determined without joining the candidate who placed second in the polls.
LP’s Widespread Irregularities Claim Generic
While highlighting a claim by the respondents that Obi’s petition only alleged that there were widespread irregularities without giving the particulars and the polling units.
Justice Abba Mohammed held that in a presidential election held in 176,866 polling units in 774 Local Government Areas, it would be improper not to specify where there were irregularities. According to him, the petitioners only made generic allegations.
“Pleading must set out material facts and particulars. In the instant petition, there was no effort to prove specific allegations, particulars of complaints,” said the Tribunal. 10 out of 13 petitioners’ witnesses are incompetent and their testimonies are hereby struck out for failure to be filed alongside with the petition.Documents tendered through subpoenaed witnesses are inadmissible”
The law is clear that where someone alleges irregularities in a particular polling unit, such person must prove the particular irregularities in that polling unit before that petition can succeed, the Tribunal added.
The court said the petitioners did not prove the particular polling unit where the election did not take place nor did they specify particulars of polling units where there are alleged complainants of irregularities.
“It was only in one instance that figures were given of alleged suppressed votes and we all know that elections are about figures,” it said.
“LP alleged that INEC reduced their scores and added it to APC votes but failed to supply particulars of what they actually scored before the said reductions, neither did they supply the polling units where it happened….”
