Peter Obi's Petition Against Bola Ahmed Tinubu Is Incompetent & Defective Beyond Repair' – Tribunal
From the Live Broadcast From Channels Television in Abuja, the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal issued a judgment regarding the petition of Peter Gregory Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate. The Tribunal found Obi’s petition to be grossly inept and irreparable, striking out several paragraphs due to their imprecision, ineptitude, inconsistency, haziness, and self-contradiction.
Obi’s appeal had presented various broad allegations of malpractices, irregularities, and corruption without the required precision, as stated in the judgment delivered by Justice Abba Mohammed. The Tribunal ruled that, despite Obi’s claim to have received the most legitimate votes in the February 25 presidential election, he failed to specify or quantify the lawful votes he received. Additionally, Justice Mohammed noted that Obi had requested forensic expert reports but failed to file them with the case or serve them on the respondents.
Justice Mohammed also pointed out that Obi’s assertion of vote suppression in favor of Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) lacked clarity as he did not provide supporting figures. Similarly, the Tribunal dismissed Obi’s claims that votes attributed to Tinubu were inflated since he did not specify the exact number of votes in question. Regarding allegations of corrupt practices, Justice Mohammed clarified that not all allegations of corruption constitute corrupt practices and that pleadings should be precise rather than generic, as Obi’s were.
The Tribunal stated, “The Law is very clear that where someone alleged irregularities in a particular polling unit, as in the instant petition, such a person must prove the particular irregularities in that polling unit for him to succeed in his petition.”
Furthermore, the Tribunal found that Obi failed to substantiate the specific voting units where elections did not take place and did not specify the polling units where complainants reported irregularities.
Savigny (
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