The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) faced a setback on Monday as it failed to present its defense against the allegations made by Mr. Peter Obi, the candidate of the Labour Party, who claimed that the 2023 presidential election was rigged. The Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), which was convened in Abuja, had reconvened to allow INEC to call its first witness to substantiate the declaration of Bola Tinubu, the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner of the presidential election held on February 25.
However, when the case was called for hearing, INEC’s legal team, led by Mr. Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN, informed the court that their witness was unavailable. Although the Commission expressed its intent to produce three witnesses to defend the outcome of the disputed presidential poll, it explained to the court that the first witness they intended to call was dealing with a domestic issue.
As a result, Mahmoud, SAN, the lead counsel for INEC, requested an adjournment, which was not opposed by Obi’s legal team, led by Dr. Livy Uzoukwu, SAN. Additionally, the lead counsel for President Tinubu, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, and the counsel for the APC, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, expressed no objections to the adjournment. Consequently, the panel, presided over by Justice Haruna Tsammani, adjourned the case until Tuesday to allow INEC to produce its first witness.
It is noteworthy that Obi, who came in third in the presidential contest, concluded his case on June 23 after presenting several documentary pieces of evidence and calling a total of 13 witnesses, out of the initially scheduled 50, to testify before the court. The exhibits submitted included polling unit results from all 36 states in the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), as well as a bundle of documents containing the total number of collected Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) in 32 states prior to the 2023 general elections.
In addition to the four video exhibits, one of which was a press conference where the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu, assured the public of the electronic transmission of election results, Obi and his party presented a bundle of documents containing the total number of registered voters in each state. The court admitted all these electoral documents as evidence, despite objections raised by the respondents, who stated their intention to challenge the admissibility in their final written address.
Obi approached the court to challenge the declaration of President Tinubu as the winner of the presidential poll. In the joint petition filed with his party, Obi argued that Tinubu was not the valid winner of the election. They further contended that Tinubu was not qualified to participate in the presidential poll, as his running mate, Shettima, was still the nominated candidate of the APC for the Borno Central Senatorial election at the time. Moreover, they alleged that Tinubu was previously indicted and fined by a US court for offenses involving dishonesty and drug trafficking.
The petitioners also claimed that the election was invalid due to corrupt practices and non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022. They argued that INEC breached its own regulations and guidelines during the conduct of the presidential poll by failing to prescribe and deploy technological devices for accreditation, verification, continuation, and authentication of voters and their particulars.
Consequently, the petitioners requested the court to declare that the votes recorded for Tinubu and the APC were wasted votes due to his non-qualification/disqualification. They sought a determination that, based on the remaining votes after disregarding the votes credited to Tinubu, Obi scored a majority of the lawful votes and satisfied the constitutional requirements to be declared the winner of the February 25, 2023, presidential election. They also asked the court to determine that Tinubu, having failed to score one-quarter of the votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory, was not entitled to be declared the winner. Alternatively, they requested the court to cancel the election and compel INEC to conduct a fresh election in which Tinubu, Shettima, and the APC would not participate.
As an additional alternative, the petitioners urged the court to declare the presidential election void on the grounds that it was not conducted substantially in accordance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022, and the 1999 Constitution, as amended. They also sought an order to cancel the presidential election held on February 25, 2023, and mandate INEC to conduct a fresh election for the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
In a separate development, the court scheduled a hearing for 2 pm on another petition filed by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, seeking to nullify President Tinubu’s election.
Source: Vanguard
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