Tribunal: Battles move to Supreme Court As Peter Obi Files 51 Grounds Of Appeal Against PEPT Judgment At Supreme Court

…Atiku Seeks Nullification Of Judgment

The presidential candidates of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, has filed 51 grounds of appeal before the Supreme Court seeking the nullification of Judgment of the Presidential Election Petition court and the election of President Bola Tinubu.

In the same vein, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Abubakar Atiku, has filed an appeal at the Supreme Court, seeking nullification of the judgment of the Presidential Election Petitions Court, which upheld the declaration of President Bola Tinubu as the winner of the 2023 polls.

Mr Peter Obi in his notice of appeal, Obi said the Presidential Election Petitions Court erred in law and thereby reached a wrong conclusion when it dismissed the petition he lodged to challenge the outcome of the presidential election.

He maintained that the five-member panel of the Tribunal led by Justice Haruna Tsammani, carried out a miscarriage of justice against him, when it held that he did not specify polling units where irregularities occurred during the election.

He further faulted the PEPC for dismissing his case on the premise that he did not specify the figures of votes or scores that were allegedly suppressed of inflated in favour of President Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Obi also accused the panel of erring in law when it relied on paragraph 4(1) (d) (2) and 54 of the First Schedule to the Electoral Act 2022 to strike out paragraphs of his petition.

While accusing the lower court of breaching his right to fair hearing, Obi insisted that evidence of his witnesses were wrongly dismissed as incompetent.

He told the apex court that the panel unjustly dismissed his allegation that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, uploaded 18, 088 blurred results on its IReV portal.

He further alleges that the tribunal ignored his allegation that Certified True Copies of documents that INEC issued to his legal team, comprised of 8, 123 blurred results that contained blank A4 papers, pictures and images of unknown persons, purporting same to be the CTC of polling units results of the presidential election.

Also, Atiku, in the notice of appeal predicated on 35 grounds, Atiku insisted that the tribunal committed a grave error and miscarriage of justice in its findings and conclusion in its petition challenging the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)’s declaration of Tinubu as President.

The notice of appeal is also praying the apex 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.

Atiku 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, based on the doctrine of legitimate expectation.

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