.As Obi, LP list 51 grounds at Apex Court
Chigozie Ikpo, Abuja
The Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and his party, have approached the Supreme Court with 35 grounds of appeal seeking the nullification of the declaration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as winner of the February 25 presidential election.
Atiku, through his team of lawyers led by Chief Chris Uche, SAN, is praying the apex court to set aside the judgement the Presidential Election Petition Court delivered on September 6, which affirmed Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, as the valid winner of the presidential election that held on February 25.
Atiku and the PDP among the 35 grounds, said that the Justice Haruna Tsammani-led Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) erred in law when it failed to determine his case with respect to the mandatory verification and confirmation required before the announcement of the results of the presidential election, pursuant to Section 64(4) of the Electoral Act, 2022.
He averred that all the Collation Officers, Returning Officers and INEC Chairman are under a statutory obligation to confirm and verify that the results being collated is consistent with the results directly transmitted from the polling units before making final announcement on the general elections.
Faulting the entire decision further, the appellant in ground eight claimed that the lower court erred in law when in its interpretation of Section 134(2) of the 1999 Constitution held that Tinubu does not need to score 25% of lawful votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
According to Atiku, the issue submitted to the tribunal called for the interpretation of the material word “and” in the said Section 134(2), adding that the provisions of the Section are clear and unambiguous.
Atiku contended that the tribunal made grave error and miscarriage of justice in striking out the witness statement on oath and the entire evidence of his subpoenaed witnesses on the erroneous grounds that the said statements were not filed along with the petition.
According to him, the subpoenaed witnesses were essentially persons whose witness statement on oath could not practically be ready and available at the time of preparing and filing of his petition.
“PW 21 and PW 26 were witnesses whose witness statements on oath and experts reports were predicated upon the order of the same tribunal made pursuant to Section 146(1) of the Electoral Act, 2022, which authorized them on behalf of the appellants to proceed to inspect electoral documents in the custody of the 1st respondents (INEC) for the maintenance of the petition.
“The said witness statement on oath and the reports were products of the inspection conducted pursuant to the order of court and could not have been produced in advance before the filing of the petition, same being dependent on access to electoral documents in the possession of an adverse party “.
Atiku further argued that the striking out of the evidence of the subpoenaed witnesses of the appellant was in breach of their rights to fair hearing and was to amputate the evidential limbs of the case of the appellant and peremptorily and technically knock out the case of the appellant.
In the Notice of Appeal, Atiku prayed the Supreme Court to declare him the authentic winner of the February 25 presidential election based on lawful votes cast by Nigerians during the poll.
He said that in the alternative, the apex court should order a rerun election to be conducted for him and Tinubu being the 1st and 2nd runners up in the last presidential election.
No date has been fixed for hearing in the Appeal, by the Supreme Court.
.As Obi, LP list 51 grounds at Apex Court
Also, The final legal battle for the Contentious February 25th, 2023 Presidential Election begins with the Labour Party Presidential Candidate, Peter Gregory Obi, and the Labour Party, filing an appeal against the September 6, 2023 ruling of the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC.
Obi and LP’s team of lawyers led by Dr Livy Uzokwu SAN beat the deadline for the filing of the Appeal and are approaching the apex court on 51 grounds which they termed an error in law to prove that the All Progressives Congress, APC Presidential Candidate in the election, Bola Ahmed Tinubu did not win the election and that it was wrong for both INEC and the PEPC to declare him winner of the election when many incontrovertible points were proving otherwise.
In their reliefs Obi and the Labour Party sought from the apex Court, four key points; Allow the Appeal, set aside the perverse Judgment of the PEPC, and grant the Reliefs sought in the petition, either in the main or in the alternative.
On the issue of the 25% requirement for Abuja, Obi and the Labour Party listed the particulars of error by the PEPC as follows. That the PEPC failed to appreciate that for the President to assume the office or position of the Governor of Abuja, is also under a mandate to secure 25% of the votes cast in the FCT.
They also accused the PEPC of overlooking the fuller purport of section 299 which will be more glaring on a calm examination of section 301 of the constitution.
No date yet has been fixed for the hearing of the case.
