LEAD counsel to Peter Obi, the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the February 25, 2023 polls, lead lawyer, Livy Uzoukwu, (SAN) on Tuesday told the Presidential Election Court that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had laboured in vain to defend his victory.
While countering Wole Olanipekun’s argument over the use of IReV during the election, Uzoukwu referenced the Supreme Court decision on former Osun State governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, against Ademola Adeleke, saying the apex court held that “IREV is part of the electoral process.”
Uzoukwu noted that “an election in which over 8,000 blurred elections results were uploaded on IReV is a flawed election,” adding that “INEC issued certified true copies of polling units results to Mr Obi, out of that over 8,000 were blurred and blank copies of A4 papers. How can they say they conducted an election so properly called?”
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He argued that Tinubu was declared winner of the election on the basis of a “flawed” process and that: “It is not in doubt that the 2nd Respondent (Tinubu) forfeited $460,000 being profits of narcotic trafficking in the U.S. They don’t want to hear that,” Uzoukwu stated.
He contended that Obi’s petition was not abandoned as insinuated by Tinubu’s legal team, insisting that his team had led credible evidence in aid of their client’s case. “I submit that the petitioners have proved their petition and particularly the issue of non-compliance. In fact, the respondents provided no defence,” Uzoukwu said as he urged the court to grant Obi’s prayers and dismiss the respondents’ defence.
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Earlier in his closing argument, Olanipekun, (SAN), said Obi and the Labour Party abandoned their joint petition. “The petitioners have abandoned their petition and they should say so in clear terms.”
According to the senior lawyer, uploading of results to IReV was not part of the collation process, saying “collation is done physically where all results are entered in the appropriate INEC forms.”
Consolidating his argument, Olanipekun cited a recent judgement of the Court of Appeal in Lagos which gave INEC the discretion to choose whichever mode to collate election results. He said the subsisting appellate court decision was given against the Labour Party in favour of INEC.
“Labour Party went forum-shopping in another court in Lagos and the Court of Appeal in Lagos settled the matter on 19 July 2023. Judgement was given against the Labour Party over INEC’s mode of transmission of results,” he said.
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On the issue of alleged criminal forfeiture of $460,000 in narcotics trafficking by Tinubu in the U.S., Olanipekun told the court that the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria cleared Tinubu of any crime or indictment.
Arguing on Obi’s prayer for a rerun should the court decline to declare him President, Olanipekun said the Labour Party flagbearer would not be allowed to participate in the process because he came third in the race. He said the law only provides for Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party who came second in the contest to participate in a rerun should the court decide so.
“Assuming without conceding, even if there is going to be a rerun, Mr Obi will not be qualified to run. May I urge my Lordships to dismiss this petition. It is an expedition,” Olanipekun concluded.
On his part, APC’s lawyer, Lateef Fagbemi, (SAN), adopted the closing arguments of Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN) and Olanipekun, stressing that Obi failed to prove polling unit by polling unit INEC’s failure to transmit polling units results electronically.
“This is abysmally lacking in the suit,” Fagbemi argued, adding that Obi ought to have proved non-compliance with the electoral law in all polling stations across the country. “The issue of rerun is a two-horse race between the two leading contenders,” referring to Mr Tinubu and Atiku, urging the court to dismiss the petition.
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After the final legal fireworks, the five-member Presidential Election Petition Court led by the Honourable Justice Haruna Tsammani reserved its judgement to be delivered before or by September 16, 2023. The court said a date for judgement would be communicated to parties in the suit on a later date.
