Court admits final results in LP, Obi’s petition

 

The final results for all 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory were presented as evidence on Wednesday by the Labour Party (LP) and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, at the Presidential Election Petition Court. The document, known as Form EC8D(a), was tendered by Paul Annanaba, SAN, representing the party and Obi, in their petition challenging the outcome of the February 25 presidential election, where Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was declared the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The respondents in the suit include INEC, Tinubu, the vice-president, Kassim Shettima, and the APC. All the respondents’ legal representatives agreed to the presentation of the national results for the states and the FCT. The five-man panel of the Presidential Election Petition Court, led by Justice Haruna Tsammani, admitted the national document as evidence in Obi’s petition, as there were no objections from the respondents.

Additionally, the petitioners submitted Form EC8Cs from 13 states (Bayelsa, Benue, Cross River, Ebonyi, Edo, Lagos, Niger, Ondo, Oyo, Rivers, Sokoto, Ekiti, and Delta) as evidence in support of their petition against Tinubu’s victory. However, the respondents objected to the admissibility of the form EC8Cs and stated that they would explain their objections in their final written addresses. Nevertheless, the court admitted the forms as evidence and marked them as exhibits. The court then adjourned further hearings on the petition to Thursday, June 8, 2023.

Meanwhile, in a separate petition marked CA/PEPC/05/2023, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, called their first subpoenaed witness at the Presidential Election Petition Court. However, the respondents (INEC, Tinubu, and APC) objected to taking the witness’s testimony, citing insufficient time to study the witness statement. The court proposed a 30-minute adjournment to allow the respondents to review the documents and cross-examine the witness. However, INEC’s counsel insisted on further time to examine the witness due to his status as an ad hoc staff of the commission. As a result, the PDP’s counsel requested an adjournment until the next day to call the three subpoenaed witnesses.

Earlier in the proceedings, the PDP and Atiku presented their 11th witness, Ndubuisi Nwobu, the PDP chairman of Anambra, who testified about the disputed results at lower levels before they were collated at the state level. When questioned about his witness statement, Nwobu explained that it was not possible to include every detail in the statement.

The court will continue the hearing in the PDP and Atiku’s petition on Thursday, June 8, 2023.