Says Obi, Atiku, APM failed to prove allegations
Admin I Wednesday, Sept.06, 2023
ABUJA, Nigeria – The Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, sitting at the Court of Appeal today upheld the election of President Bola Tinubu and that of the Vice President, Kashim Shettima.
In the lead judgement read by Justice Haruna Tsamani, the PEPC held that the petitioners failed to prove their allegations against the respondent and that Tinubu and Shettima were fit, proper and qualified for the election in which they were declared winner.
The court rejected the evidence, including video recordings presented by the petitioners, stressing that they were secondary and not primary evidence.
The court relied on the reply to the letter from the former Inspector General of Police to the United State Embassy in Lagos and not the Certified true copies of the judgement of the District court of Illinois and held that the petitioners failed to prove any criminal record against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
It therefore rejected Obi’s petition that Tinubu forfeited $460,000 in a drugs case in Chicago and that the case in question was a civil case and an action in rem, not an action in person.
It also held that that the case of double nomination against the Vice President by the Allied Peoples Movement, APM failed since the APM are not members of the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC and that only candidate of the APC has the locus standi to institute the case against the Vice President.
On the 25% mandatory in the FCT, the court ruled that it is hollow to suggest that the votes of people in the FCT have a veto effect, adding that the use of the world ‘and’ was nothing but a conjunction and that it has nothing more than that but consistency in referring to the Federal Capital Territory.
He argued that the FCT is to be treated as a statement alluding to Ibori Vs the State. He said the FCT is to be treated as one of the states of the Federation. He therefore resolves the petition in favour of the respondents against the petitioners.
The court destroyed all the evidence presented by Peter Obi and his party on the ground that they were inadmissible since they were not served on respondents at the beginning of the case.
It ruled that INEC was at liberty to determine the method of uploading results and that there was no provision in the constitution that mandates INEC to transmit results electronically but that the use of electronic means was only made by INEC in its electoral act.
He averred that petitioners failed to prove sufficiently allegation of non compliant to the electoral act by INEC and resolved the matter in favour of the respondents.
The judge averred that to prove manipulation, the petitioners must prove two results, one genuine and the other inflated. He held that petitioners failed to prove allegations of fraud which they alleged against INEC, adding that the electoral umpire complied substantially with provision of the electoral act.
Tsamani held that INEC is set up by section 155, section 63 of the constitution adding that as stated in para 15, the job of INEC is to organise, undertake and supervise elections.
He held that INEC is empowered by section 160 to make its own rule and not under control of the president and not subject to control by anybody and that the relevant section of the constitution mandates the presiding officer to count and announce results and transfer results in a manner prescribed by the commission.
The court also dismissed petitions of the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, stressing that Atiku failed to prove allegations contained in his petition.
