BREAKING: Court dismisses LP/Peter Obi’s 25% FCT votes claim, says Abuja like other states
The Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) has dismissed the Labour Party (LP) and Peter Obi’s petition against President Bola Tinubu on claims that 25% of the votes in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, is required to win the presidential election.
The court in striking out the petition said that Abuja is Like Other States, adding that FCT residents have no special privileges as the petitioners claimed.
The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal has also ruled that President Bola Tinubu cannot be disqualified on the basis of his forfeiture of drug money in the United States.
According to the PEPT, Tinubu was previously cleared by the Nigeria Police Force of any criminal issues in the US, which came through an inquiry the police had made to US law enforcement.
The court disclosed that Tinubu has been able to enter and exit the US, and that suggests he has no criminal case.
In his ruling, Tsammani said the judgement of the US District in Northern Illinois which ordered the forfeiture of Tinubu’s $460,000 in a drugs-related case was in civil proceedings in which Tinubu was not a party.
On the issue of non-qualification due to an alleged criminal indictment, the petitioners had contended that Tinubu had forfeited $460,000 in the US as an indictment in drug trafficking.
According to the tribunal, the evidence (Exhibit P5) tendered by the petitioners shows that it was a civil forfeiture proceedings.
Justice Tsammani held that the petitioners failed to provide credible evidence to show that Tinubu was arraigned, took a plea or was sentenced or fined in any criminal suit in the US.
“The order of forfeiture in Exhibit P5 on which the petitioners have relied does not qualify as a sentence of fine for an offence involving dishonesty or fraud within the confabulation of Section 137(d) of the 1999 constitution,” Tsammani said.
According to the tribunal, civil forfeiture is not a conviction or a criminal charge.
In the same vain, the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) has rejected, a copy of the report on the last presidential election made by the European Union (EU) Election Observers Mission tendered by Peter Obi and the Labour Party (LP).
The court held that the document was obtained by the petitioners from its registry, which was certified by its staff who is not a person with original custody of the document that was produced by the EU mission.
Recall that the actual copy of the report was earlier tendered by Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) while prosecuting their petition before the court.
The court also rejected the 18088 blurred results sheets tendered by the petitioners on the grounds that they were not tied to any polling units to which the results related, which the petitioners failed to specify in their petition.
The court held that the petitioners lied that they could not identify the polling units because the result sheets were blurred. It noted that one of the same petitioners’ witnesses actually produced a report in which he analysed the same results, which he claimed to have sourced from INEC’s results viewing platform.
It further noted that having admitted that its agents signed for and collected copies of the result sheets, the petitioners cannot claim not to know the polling units affected, but merely chose not to specify the polling units in their petition.
