Eko Hot Blog reports that the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal, on Wednesday, upheld the election of President Bola Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 presidential election.
This development followed petitions filed by the Peoples Democratic Party and its presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar; the Labour Party and its candidate, Peter Obi, challenging the victory of Tinubu as the winner of the presidential election announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission on March 1.
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Justice Haruna Tsammani while giving his verdict on Wednesday said, “This petition accordingly lacks merit. I affirm the return of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the duly elected President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The parties are to bear their cost.”
Judgement On Petitions filed by Atiku Abubakar:
On the decision of INEC to return Tinubu as the duly elected by majority of lawful votes cast in the February 25, 2023 poll, the Tribunal held that the petitioner, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its flag bearer, Atiku Abubakar did not successfully prove the allegations against this ground and indeed all the grounds in their petition.
Justice Haruna Tsammani, leader of the five-man panel, said, “This petition accordingly lacks merit. I affirm the return of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the duly elected President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The parties are to bear their cost.”
The court also expunged 37 exhibits tendered by the witnesses from the court’s records.
On the issue of dumping of documents on the court, he held that this would only go to the weight to be attached to such evidence.
Several exhibits including statements of witnesses Atiku tendered to establish his allegations of irregularities, and malpractices against the February 25 presidential election were rejected and discountenanced by the Court.
According to the Tribunal, Atiku Abubakar made grievous allegations against Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State and Chairman of Olamaboro Local Government Area of Kogi, Friday Adejoh, but neglected to join them as respondents in the petition.
Justice Ugoh held that failure to join the governor, who was accused of electoral fraud obstructed the petition because the governor was denied the opportunity to defend himself as required by law.
Therefore, the Tribunal dismissed the allegations of over-voting nationwide by the petitioner saying such pleadings run foul of the law because he failed to mention the specific locations where the alleged over-voting took place.
Abubakar’s petition was also faulted for introducing several facts and allegations in unlawful ways that caught the respondents unaware, adding that the tactic employed was unfair and made him clever by half.
Judgement On Petitions Filed By Peter Obi:
Similarly, PEPC dismissed the allegation by the Labour Party, LP, and its candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, that the 2023 presidential election was rigged in favour of President Bola Tinubu.
The court, in its preliminary ruling that was delivered by Justice Abba Mohammed, held that Obi and the the LP, did not by way of credible evidence, establish their allegation that the election that held on February 25, was characterized by manifest corrupt practices.
It held that though the Petitioners alleged that the election was marred by irregularities, they, however, failed to give specific details of where the alleged infractions took place.
The court noted that whereas Obi and the LP, insisted that the election was rigged in 18, 088 polling units across the federation, they were unable to state the locations of the said polling units.
It further held that Obi’s allegation that fictitious results were recorded to President Tinubu and the APC, by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, was not proved.
Tinubu scored a total of 8,794,726 votes to defeat Atiku and Obi, who polled 6,984,520 and 6,101,533 votes, respectively.
Further Reading
Alh Atiku Abubakar and Mr Peter Obi can appeal the judgement up to the Supreme Court to dismiss the tribunal’s ruling.
Any appeal must however be concluded within 60 days of the date of the tribunal judgement.
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