The Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja has dismissed the allegations made by the Labour Party (LP) and its candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, that the 2023 presidential election was rigged in favor of President Bola Tinubu.
In a preliminary ruling delivered by Justice Abba Mohammed, the court held that Obi and the LP failed to provide credible evidence to substantiate their claim that the election held on February 25 was marred by manifest corrupt practices. While the petitioners alleged irregularities, they did not specify where these alleged infractions occurred.
The court noted that Obi and the LP claimed the election was rigged in 18,088 polling units nationwide but failed to identify these polling units. Additionally, the court found that Obi’s allegation of fictitious results being recorded for President Tinubu and the APC by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was not substantiated.
Furthermore, the court pointed out that the petitioners could not provide details regarding the figures they claimed were deducted from their election results in various states, including Ondo, Oyo, Rivers, Yobe, Borno, Tabara, Osun, and Lagos.
The court also emphasized that the petitioners failed to specify the polling units where over-voting occurred or the exact number of unlawful votes attributed to Tinubu by INEC. They did not attach the promised spreadsheets, forensic reports, or expert analyses to their petition as required by law.
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Regarding allegations of violence, non-voting, suppression of votes, fictitious results, and corrupt practices, the court found that the petitioners did not provide specific details about the polling units where these incidents allegedly took place. Many portions of the petition were deemed “vague, imprecise, nebulous, and bereft of particular materials,” leading the court to strike out specific paragraphs from the petition.
However, the court dismissed the contention that Obi was not validly nominated by the LP to contest the presidential election. It held that membership issues within a political party are not within its jurisdiction and that only the LP can determine its members. The court also clarified that the petitioners were not obligated to involve Alhaji Atiku Abubakar or his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the case, as they are not statutory respondents or necessary parties to the petition.
The five-member panel, chaired by Justice Haruna Tsammani, is currently reading the judgment on the substantive matter.
