- As Tribunal Upholds Bola Tinubu As Winner Of The February 25th Presidential Election
By Desmond Ukandu (Politics Editor, in Abuja)
Apparently rankled by what it viewed as a rape on Nigeria's tottering democracy and a judicial subversion of the people's will as expressed in the February 25th Presidential poll, the opposition Labour Party (LP), on Wednesday, rejected in its entirety, the judicial decision pronounced on Wednesday, September 6, 2023, upholding Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as the winner of the controversial presidential election.
The Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) in a unanimous decision, dismissed the petitions by the Labour Party and its presidential flagbearer, Mr Peter Obi. The trial judges delivered that the party and Obi failed to convincingly prove their cases against the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) and it's candidate, President Bola Tinubu. Labour Party in a statement on Wednesday evening by its Acting National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, said, "The Labour Party watched with dismay and trepidation the dismissal of petitions by the five-man panel of the Presidential Election Petition Court led by Justice Haruna Tsammani today and we reject the outcome of the judgment in its entirety because justice was not served and it did not reflect the law and the desire of the people.
“Nigerians were witnesses to the electoral robbery that took place on February 25, 2023, which was globally condemned but the Tribunal in its wisdom refused to accept the obvious. What is at stake is democracy and we will not relent until the people will prevail. We salute the doggedness of our team of lawyers who fearlessly exposed the wrath in our system. We can only weep for democracy in Nigeria but we refuse to give up on Nigeria.”
The Labour Party also disclosed that the party will make its position known after officially obtaining the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgement and confering with its legal team.
It urged all democracy lovers to "remain focused and hopeful because a new Nigeria is possible".
Earlier, the Presidential Election Petitions Court (PEPC) in its much awaited judgement same Wednesday morning, had dismissed Labour Party (LP) and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi's petition for what it described as failing to prove their case against the All Progressive Congress (APC) and it's candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
In the same vein, the tribunal court had earlier dismissed the petition of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) and it's presidential candidate, Princess Chichi Ojei, against Senator Kashim Shettima, the APC Vice Presidential candidate in the election. The court also threw out the petition by the APM and Princess Ojei, challenging the outcome of the February 25 election.
In the Presidential poll, Ojei won only a total of 25,000 votes but petitioned the Electoral Court to cancel INEC's declaration of Bola Tinubu of the APC as the winner of the poll. The court, however, ruled that Ojei and APM's petition in this respect and“dismissed it as "incompetent” and lacking in merit.
The tribunal in the case of Labour Party and Peter Obi, ruled that Obi could not convince the court in his claim that he won the contentious presidential election and was denied victory by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which he (Obi) claimed failed to substantially comply with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2023.
The 5-man panel of jurists led by Justice Haruna Tsammani also struck out Peter Obi's petition seeking the disqualification of Tinubu for his payment of a fine to evade trial for narcotics offences in the United States of America. The court rather stated that the said fine was in respect of a civil matter which had no record of any criminal arrest or conviction established against Tinubu by the petitioners.
On the question of mandatory 25 per cent of votes from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja required by law to win the presidential election, the court equally threw out the petition by Peter Obi and his party, insisting that the residents of FCT Abuja have no special vote rights or privileges as claimed by the petitioners.
The reports of forensic investigations brought by the three witnesses of Labour Party, the court ruled, were made by an interested party or while the case was still pending. It also rejected the election report by the European Union Election Observer Team, claiming that the report was not tendered by an official of the EU.
The court also frowned at the contention by Obi and his party that INEC failed to electronically transmit the results of the election as required by the Electoral law and as severally promised the electorates by the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmoud Yakubu, insisting that INEC was free to decide now to transmit the election results.
The tribunal court, as at the time of writing this report, was still reading its judgment in the petition by former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Eighteen Presidential candidates participated in the Saturday, February 25th Presidential election in which Labour Party's (LP) Peter Obi, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressive Congress (APC) were the major contenders.
On Wednesday, March 1, 2023, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmoud Yakubu, announced what was regarded by most Nigerian electorates and the election observers as incomplete results which proclaimed Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the APC as winner of the election.
According INEC, Tinubu scored 8.8 million votes. The Commission announced Atiku Abubakar as second with a total vote score of 6,984,520 votes, while Peter Obi was declared third with a total of 6,101,533 votes.
The Presidential results as announced by INEC, had, since March this year generated controversy and angry reactions from most Nigerians and the international community who described it as the worst "electoral fraud" ever perpetrated since the history of democracy in independent Nigeria.
The outcome of that presidential poll is the subject of the on-going litigations at the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) which might even get to the Supreme Court for a judicial review. NNL.
