By Innocent Anaba, Dapo Akinrefon, Olasunkanmi Akoni, Ikechukwu Nnochiri & John Alechenu

JUDGMENT HIGHLIGHTS

…Obi, LP failed to prove rigging, over-voting
…Portions of Obi’s petition vague, imprecise, nebulous, bereft of particular materials
…Obi validly nominated by LP
…Shettima validly nominated as APC vice presidential candidate
…No evidence Tinubu was convicted in the US for drug trafficking
…Tinubu not indicted, arraigned, tried or convicted in the US
…$460,000 forfeiture is a civil matter, not a criminal conviction
…INEC can’t be forced to transmit election results electronically
…On 25% votes, Abuja is not special as other states

LAGOS — The Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, in a landmark decision, yesterday, dismissed the petitions of the Labour Party, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and the Allied Peoples Movement, APM, and their candidates against the election of President Bola Tinubu.

The five-man panel, led by Justice Haruna Tsammani, dismissed the petition of Mr Peter Obi of LP seeking to nullify Tinubu’s election.

It also dismissed APM’s petition seeking to disqualify the president over the invalid nomination of his running mate, Senate Kashim Shettima.

Obi’s petition dismissed

The PEPC, dismissed the allegation of the Labour Party, LP, and its candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, that the 2023 presidential election was rigged in favour of President Bola Tinubu.

The court, in its preliminary ruling that was delivered by Justice Abba Mohammed, held that Obi and the LP did not by way of credible evidence, establish their allegation that the February 25 election was characterized by manifest corrupt practices.

It held that though the petitioners alleged that the election was marred by irregularities, they, however, failed to give specific details of where the alleged infractions took place.

The court noted that whereas Obi and the LP insisted that the election was rigged in 18, 088 polling units across the federation, they were unable to state the locations of the said polling units.

It further held that Obi’s allegation that fictitious results were recorded for President Tinubu and the APC, by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, was not proved

More so, it held that the petitioners were unable to state the figures they claimed were reduced from election results they garnered in different states of the federation, especially in Ondo, Oyo, Rivers, Yobe, Borno, Tabara, Osun and Lagos state.