President Bola Tinubu and Peter Obi
LP, Obi closed case against Tinubu. On Friday, Mr. Peter Obi and the Labour Party (LP) closed their petition at the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) without presenting 37 of the 50 promised witnesses.
Obi and LP filed a petition (CA/PEPC/03/2023) to challenge President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s election on February 25th.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima, and the All Progressives Congress (APC) are the respondents in the petition.
The court gave the petitioners 21 days to prove their case against the respondents.
They rested their case on Friday after only 13 witnesses testified. The remaining 37 did not show up.
Counsel to the petitioners, Livy Uzoukwu SAN, said their 12th witness, Yunusa Tanko, was present in court for cross-examination by the respondents.
Kemi Pinhero SAN represents INEC, Wole Olanipekun SAN represents Tinubu and Shettima, and Lateef Fagbemi SAN represents APC.
Yunusa Tanko, a member of LP Situation Room, testified and presented some documents as the 12th witness (PW12).
The witness testified in court that INEC gave them mutilated and unreadable results during cross-examination.
Olanipekun asked him about the number of party agents during the election. He replied that his party had over 130,000 agents, but there were 176,974 polling units across the country.
The court asked Tanko what should be done with the 12 states won by LP and what will happen to Atiku Abubakar, who came second.
He challenged the entire election results, stating that it’s been four months and the IreV is still downloading the results.
Fagbemi asked why he did not provide the number of unlawful votes. He replied that their expert had already given evidence on the number of disputed votes.
On Jan. 23, 2023, the respondents presented witness judgments from the Federal High Court (FHC/ABJ/1454/2022) in the case of LP vs INEC.
The Supreme Court delivered judgment on May 26, 2023, in case SC/CV/501/2023 between PDP, INEC, and three others.
The petitioners objected to the admissibility of the documents and stated that they would provide their reason in their final written addresses.
The court admitted and marked the documents as exhibits. Peter Yari, an INEC adhoc staff, also testified.
Uzoukwu, counsel for the petitioners, informed the court that they are closing their case after PW13’s testimony.
The respondents requested to celebrate Sallah with their families and return on July 3 to open their case, asking the court for an extension until next week.
Justice Haruna Tsammani presided over a five-member panel that adjourned the case until July 3, so that the respondents could present their case.
Peter Obi is a member of the Labour Party.