Obi closes case against Tinubu after loading PEPC with tons of documents, 13 witnesses

Saturday, 24 June 2023 02:45

Obi closes case against Tinubu after loading PEPC with tons of documents, 13 witnesses

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Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, on Friday, closed his case at the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja with the 13 witnesses he called to prove his case against President Bola Tinubu’s election.

Mr Obi had proposed to call 50 witnesses but could only call 13 within the court allotted time. He also tendered tons of electoral documents.

Nigeria’s electoral commission, INEC, had declared Tinubu winner of the 25 February election.

Displeased with the results, Obi, who came third in the election, filed a petition at the court to challenge Tinubu’s victory.

He and his party filed the petition 20 days after Tinubu was declared president-elect.

Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who came second at the polls, is also challenging the election outcome separately. He also closed his case on Friday with 27 witnesses, although he had proposed to call 100.

Both opposition candidates claim the presidency, alleging that Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) did not win the election.

Resumed hearing

At the resumed hearing of Obi’s suit on Friday, his lead counsel, Livy Uzoukwu, led Tanko Yunusa, a stalwart of the Labour Party, as a witness.

Yunusa, a Peter Obi Presidential Campaign Council spokesperson, was cross-examined by INEC’s lawyer, Kemi Pinheiro.

Tinubu and APC’s lawyers, Wole Olanipekun and Lateef Fagbemi, also took their turns to grill Yunusa during the cross-examination session.

Yunusa was asked if he knew about a Federal High Court decision that dismissed the Labour Party’s suit challenging vice president Kashim Shettima’s nomination because of the alleged double nomination. He responded, “No.”

A lawyer in Obi’s legal team, Ikechukwu Ezechukwu, invited Peter Yari to the witness box as the 13th petitioner’s witness in the case.

Yari was a presiding officer during the presidential election in Kaduna State. He adopted his witness statement on oath.

Under cross-examination by the respondents’ lawyers, Yari said he had difficulty uploading the presidential election results on INEC’s Results Viewing Portal.

At the close of his testimony, Obi’s lawyer, Uzoukwu, told the court, “My Lords, that is the petitioners’ case.”

Afterwards, the court adjourned further hearing until 3 July for the respondents – Tinubu, INEC and APC- to open their defence.