Percy Onyeka
… Ex-VP asks apex court to set aside ‘whole findings, conclusions of the tribunal’
… Obi, LP accuse PEPC of ‘overlooking the fuller purport of section 299’
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) Alhaji Abubakar Atiku and that of his Labour Party counterpart in the February 25th presidential election, Peter Obi, have made true to their threats to approach the Supreme Court for the rejection of the September 6 ruling of the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal that dismissed their petitions challenging the declaration of President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as winner of the February 25 presidential election in Nigeria by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Atiku and Peter Obi had earlier approached the presidential election Petitions Tribunal while rejecting the declaration of Tinubu by INEC.
The three-man PEPT headed by Justice Simon Haruna Tsamanni however gave its judgement on the petition of PDP, LP as well as Allied People’s Party (APM) and their presidential candidates, dismissing all the petitions and prayers.
Dissatisfied with the tribunal’s rulings, both Atiku and Peter Obi and their political parties disclosed their readiness to challenge the ruling upon receipt of the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgement.
The two have, however, made true to their threats, as they yesterday, approached the Supreme Court, seeking a nullification of the Presidential Election Petition Court’s judgement, which on September 6, that upheld the declaration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as winner of the 2023 presidential election.
The former vice president in his Notice of Appeal, which he predicated on 35 grounds, insisted that the tribunal in the judgment delivered by Justice Haruna Simon Tsamman
The Notice of Appeal, which was filed Tuesday by Atiku’s lead counsel, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, is praying the Supreme Court to set aside the whole findings and conclusions of the Tribunal on the grounds that they did not represent the true picture of the grounds of his petition.
Among others, the former Vice President maintained that the Tribunal erred in law when it failed to nullify the presidential election held on February 25, 2023, on the grounds of non-compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022, when by evidence before the tribunal, INEC conducted the election based on grave and gross misrepresentation contrary to the principles of the Electoral Act 2022 and based on the “doctrine of legitimate expectation”.
Obi, LP file 51-ground at Supreme Court
On their other hand, Obi and LP’s team of lawyers led by Livy Uzokwu (SAN) approached the apex court on 51 grounds which they “termed an error in law to prove that President Bola Tinubu who was the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) 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.”
The National Publicity Secretary of the Julius Abure led faction of the Labour Party, Obiora Ifoh said this in a statement on Tuesday.
The statement reads: “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.”
Techrectory with Agency Report.
