Tribunal Admits Final Election Results As Exhibit In Obi’s Petition

Presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP) in the last presidential election, Peter Obi, yesterday tendered collated final presidential election results used in declaring President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as winner of the election.

Obi is seeking nullification of Tinubu’s declaration as winner of the February 25, 2023 election.

The final result was admitted by the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) without any objection from the four respondents in the petition, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), President Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shetima and the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Apart from not opposing the final presidential election results contained in form EC8DA, the four respondents were also not opposed to deeming the vital documents as being read in the open court.

Obi and the Labour Party LP, through their lawyer, Professor Paul Ananaba (SAN), tendered the documents alongside several exhibits to establish the petition against Tinubu’s election.

The respondents opposed the admissibility of the collated election results from ward level, local government level, state level, but accepted tendering the final result without any objections.

The collated results in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory FCT contained in forms EC8D used by the electoral body were also tendered and admitted as exhibits.

Also, Obi who was physically present in the court to witness proceedings had shifted his battle from wards collated election results to local government collated election results and states’ collated results before tendering the final result as exhibits in aid of his petition.

The collated results at the local government levels are contained in forms EC8C used by the INEC during the February 25 presidential poll.

The 13 States where the Ward collated results were tendered and admitted as exhibits are Bayelsa, Benue, Cross River, Ebonyi, Edo, Lagos, Niger and Ondo.

The rest are Oyo, Rivers, Sokoto and Ekiti and Delta.

Obi tendered collated results in 8 local government areas of Bayelsa, 23 in Benue, 18 in Cross River, 10 in Ebonyi, 18 in Edo, 20 in Lagos and 25 in Niger State.

Others are 18 in Ondo, 33 in Oyo, 23 in Rivers, 23 in Sokoto, 16 in Ekiti and 25 in Delta.

Although INEC, Tinubu, Shetima and the APC, the respondents in the petition, signified their objections against admission of the collated results, presiding Justice of the court, Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani admitted them as exhibits in favour of Obi and the Labour Party.

Meanwhile, Justice Tsammani has fixed June 8, 2023 for continuation of hearing in the petition.