The fate of Peter Obi and the Labour Party (LP) in their bid to overturn the 2023 presidential election result is now in the hands of the Presidential Election Petition Court. The court has reserved its judgment on the petition filed by Mr Obi and LP, who are contesting the validity of President Bola Tinubu’s victory.
Mr Obi and LP are the petitioners in the CA/PEPC/03/2023 petition, which alleges that the election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was marred by irregularities, noncompliance, and fraud.
They are seeking to nullify the election of Mr Tinubu and his running mate, Vice President Kashim Shettima, who are the second and third respondents. The first respondent is INEC, while the fourth respondent is the All Progressives Congress (APC), the party that sponsored Mr Tinubu.
The five-member panel of judges, led by Justice Haruna Tsammani, announced that it had reserved its judgment after hearing the final arguments of the parties on Tuesday. The date of the judgment will be communicated to the parties later.
The parties had earlier filed their written addresses, following the closure of their cases on July 5. The petitioners filed their address on July 14, while the respondents filed theirs on July 15.
In their final submissions, the counsel for INEC, Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN, urged the court to dismiss the petition for lacking merit and being baseless. He said that the petitioners had failed to prove their allegations of noncompliance and fraud in the conduct of the election.
He argued that INEC had deployed technology, such as the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and IreV portal, to ensure a credible and transparent election. He said that the petitioners had misunderstood the use and purpose of these technologies, which were not meant for electronic collation or transmission of results.
He added that the petitioners had not presented any evidence to show that any result was electronically collated or transmitted by INEC. He also said that the glitches experienced during the election were not orchestrated by INEC to manipulate the outcome, but were minor and inconsequential.
Similarly, Wole Olanipekun, counsel for Messrs Tinubu and Shettima, urged the court to dismiss the petition for being frivolous and incompetent. He said that the petitioners had abandoned their petition by failing to substantiate their claims with credible evidence. He said that he would focus on three areas: noncompliance, FCT 25 per cent votes, and qualification of candidates.
He argued that noncompliance was not established by the petitioners, as they did not dispute that voting took place and results were announced. He said that all collation was done physically and manually, as required by law. He said that there was no electronic collation or transmission of results by INEC, as alleged by the petitioners.
He also argued that Mr Tinubu had secured two-thirds of votes in 12 states and FCT, as required by law. He said that Mr Obi did not have locus standi to ask for a rerun election, as he was not the first runner-up in the election. He said that Mr Obi had no connection or nexus with his petition.
Counsel for APC, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, aligned with the submissions of Messrs Mahmoud and Olanipekun. However, he said that the petition was ambitious and unrealistic. He said that the petitioners had not disputed or challenged any result from any polling unit. He said that evidence must be given from every polling unit to invalidate any result. He also argued on FCT 25 per cent votes and qualification of candidates.
Responding, Livy Uzoukwu, SAN counsel for the petitioners, argued that the respondents had laboured in vain to downplay the importance of IreV portal. He said that their own witness had testified before the court on how vital IreV portal was for uploading results from polling units. He said that INEC had failed to upload all results to IreV portal before announcing them at the national collation centre in Abuja.
He also said that INEC had failed to give a certified true copy (CTC) of 8,123 result sheets to the petitioners. He said that some of them were blurred, blank or contained picture images. He said that a CTC should be an exact replica of the original copy.
He further argued that there were no glitches during the election, as claimed by INEC. He said that INEC had deliberately sabotaged its own system to favour Mr Tinubu. He submitted that the petitioners had proved their case beyond reasonable doubt, especially on noncompliance with electoral laws and guidelines.
The court adjourned after hearing from all parties. Nigerians are now waiting for the verdict of the court, which will determine the fate of Mr Obi and LP, as well as the legitimacy of Mr Tinubu’s presidency.
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