Mr. Peter Obi, the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party (LP) and his party have petitioned the Election Tribunal and prayed it to nullify the process that produced Sen. Bola Tinubu as the president-elect.
Obi and his Party in a petition dated March 20 marked CA/PEPC/03/2023 alleged that Tinubu was not the rightful winner of the Feb 25 presidential election and that the election should be nullified.
Respondents in the petition are Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Sen Bola Tinubu , Sen Shettima Kashim and All Progressives Congress (APC).
Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu had declared Tinubu winner of the Feb. 25 presidential election after securing majority of votes cast at the poll.
According to Yakubu, Tinubu met the constitutional benchmark of scoring 25 percent in two-thirds of 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory according to INEC.
Not satisfied with the outcome of the election, the petitioners are approaching the tribunal to seek redress.
They said that it be determined that based on the valid votes cast at the Presidential election of 25 February, 2023, the 1st Petitioner scored the highest number of votes cast at the election.
And not less than one-quarter of the votes cast at the election in each of at least two-thirds of all the States in the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and ought to be declared and returned as the winner of the Presidential election.
He, therefore, sought an Order directing the 1st Respondent to issue the Certificate of Return to the 1st Petitioner as the duly elected President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
That it be determined that the Certificate of Return wrongly issued to the 2nd Respondent by the 1st Respondent is null and void and be set aside.
An order that the Presidential election conducted on 25th February 2023 is void on the ground that the election was not conducted substantially in accordance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 and Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended.
An Order further cancelling the’ Presidential Election conducted o 25th February 2023 and mandating the 1st Respondent to conduct fresh election for the office of President, the Federal Republic Nigeria.
The petitioners alleged glitches in the electronic system installed and managed by the 1st Respondent were a ploy invented to credit unlawful votes to the 2nd respondent
He added thereby, to wipe out the clear advantage which inured to the Petitioners following the lawful exercise of voting rights by the electorate.
The Petitioners shall rely on the results obtained from the iREV portal as wel] as other copies of Forms EC8A to establish that substantial votes were unlawfully credited to the 2nd respondent.
The Petitioners avered that they shall equally rely on numerous Press Statements made by and credited to the leadership of the 1stRespondent in an attempt to explain the process which led to the crediting of massive unlawful votes to the 2nd Respondent.
The petitioners averred that at the trial, the will rely on all the Investigation, Forensic, Expert and other Reports and spread sheets referred to/pleaded in the Petition, which are hereby incorporated as part of the Petition.
The petitioners avered that at the trial, they shall rely on all Respondent’s electoral materials and all other necessary documents used for the conduct of the Presidential election.
Grounds of the petition
Premium Times reports that as part of the grounds of the petition, Mr Obi argued that Mr Tinubu, “at the time of the (presidential) election, was not qualified to contest the election.”
The petitioner anchored this claim on the grounds that the Mr Tinubu “was fined $460,000 for an offence involving dishonesty, namely narcotics trafficking imposed by the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, in case no:93C 4483″ between the United States of America and Bola Tinubu.
Concerning the alleged non-qualification of Mr Tinubu’s running mate, Mr Shettima, the petitioner cited his nomination for two separate constituencies – as Borno Central senatorial candidate and vice-presidential candidate for the whole of Nigeria in the same election cycle.
He said the law provided that a presidential candidate shall nominate another person as his associate who is to occupy the office of vice president.
He recalled that Mr Tinubu had nominated Mr Shettima as his vice-presidential candidate on 14 July 2022 while the latter was still representing Borno Central Senatorial District at the National Assembly.
He added that the APC nominated Mr Shettima as its candidate for Borno Central Senatorial District as of 15 July 2022, while already chosen by Mr Tinubu as his running mate.
Mr Obi said Mr Shettima should not have allowed himself to be nominated in “more than one constituency”. He said this was a violation of the provision of the Electoral Act.
He vowed to prove in court that APC’s “purported sponsorship” of Messrs Tinubu and Shettima while the latter was still representing Borno Central Senatorial district, rendered their candidacy “invalid.”
He added that “…for this reason, the votes purportedly recorded for” Mr Tinubu “at the presidential election were/are wasted votes and ought to be disregarded”.
The petitioner also contended that Mr Tinubu “was not duly elected by majority of the lawful votes cast at the time of the election.”
He argued that Mr Tinubu did not win the majority of lawful votes cast in each of at least two-third of the states of the federation and the FCT, Abuja.
He added that Mr Tinubu was not entitled to be declared the winner of the election having failed to score one-quarter of the lawful votes cast in the FCT in the election.
5 prayers
Mr Obi put forward five prayers in court. Three of them are alternative prayers to the two main ones.
Still under the first prayer, he urged the court to declare that Mr Tinubu did not score the majority of the lawful votes cast in the election.
He asked the court to declare that he satisfied the constitutional requirements to be declared the winner of the 25 February 2023 presidential election after the deduction of alleged illegal votes from Mr Tinubu’s scores.
In the second main prayer, Mr urged the court to invalidate Mr Tinubu’s victory due to his failure to win one-quarter of the lawful votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
However, in his third prayer, which he put forward as an alternative prayer, Mr Obi urged the court to cancel the election and order INEC to conduct a fresh one.
But he went further to repeat his claim that he won the election in prayer 4 which he also put forward as an alternative prayer.
Claiming to have secured the majority of the lawful votes cast during the 25 February election, Obi called on the court to declare him the president-elect and order the INEC to issue him a certificate of return. He urged the court to void the certificate of return “wrongly” issued to Tinubu.
READ THE 5 PRAYERS IN FULL
The Petitioners, therefore, seek the following Reliefs from this Honourable Court:
1. (i) That it be determined that at the time of the Presidential Election held on 25th February, 2023, the 2nd and 3rd Respondents (Tinubu and Shettima) were not qualified to contest the election.
(ii) That it be determined that all the votes recorded for the 2nd respondent in the election are wasted votes, owing to the non-qualification/disqualification of the 2nd and 3rd respondents.
(iii) That it be determined that on the basis of the remaining votes (after discountenancing the votes credited to the 2nd Respondent) the 1st petitioner (Mr Obi) scored a majority of the lawful votes cast at the election and had not less than 25 per cent of the votes cast in each of at least 2/3 (two-third) of the states of the federation, and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, and satisfied the constitutional requirements to be declared the winner of the 25 February 2023 presidential election.
2. That it be determined that the 2nd Respondent having failed to score one-quarter of the votes cast at the presidential election in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, was not entitled to be declared and returned as the winner of the presidential election held on 25 February 2023.
IN THE ALTERNATIVE TO 2 ABOVE:
3. An order cancelling the election and compelling the 1st Respondent to conduct a fresh election at which the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Respondents shall not participate.
IN THE ALTERNATIVE TO 1, 2 AND 3 ABOVE:
4. (i) That it may be determined that the 2nd Respondent was not duly elected by a majority of the lawful votes cast in the election for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria held on 25 February 2023; and therefore, the declaration and return of the 2nd Respondent as the winner of the Presidential election are unlawful, unconstitutional and of no effect whatsoever.
(ii) That it be determined that based on the valid votes cast at the Presidential election of 25 February, 2023, the 1st Petitioner scored the highest number of votes cast at the election and not less than one-quarter of the votes cast at the election in each of at least two-thirds of all the States in the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and ought to be declared and returned as the winner of the Presidential election.
(iii) An Order directing the 1st Respondent to issue the Certificate of Return to the 1st Petitioner as the duly elected President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
(iv) That it be determined that the Certificate of Return wrongly issued to the 2nd Respondent by the 1st Respondent is null and void and be set aside.
FURTHER ALTERNATIVE TO 1, 2,3 AND 4 ABOVE:
5 (i) That the Presidential election conducted on 25th February, 2023 is void on the ground that the election was not conducted substantially in accordance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 and Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended,
(ii) An order cancelling the’ Presidential Election conducted on 25th February 2023 and mandating the 1st Respondent to conduct a fresh election for the office of President, the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
