Obi’s paperwork are rejected by INEC, according to counsel

The Labour Party’s candidate, Peter Obi, submitted documents in support of his appeal opposing the election of President Bola Tinubu. The Independent National Electoral Commission has stated its objections to the materials.

Since the beginning of the hearing, the electoral body had argued against the petitioners’ use of the various documents they had submitted as exhibits to the Presidential Election Petition Court to support their claims, and it had maintained, like other respondents, that the petition’s arguments would be made during the address stage.

In contrast, during Friday’s proceedings, Kemi Pinhero, SAN, the attorney for INEC, informed the court that the electoral organization had objected to the presenting of the election result sheets because the petitioners had gone beyond the regions in which the election was in dispute.

According to him, those local government areas that were unlawfully included in the court’s procedures are foreign to the petition and are unable to uphold the law.

Justice Harunna Tsammani, the chairperson of the five-person panel, interjected and stated that it was improper for the lawyer to provide justification for their objection after the commission had stated that it will do so at the address stage of the proceedings.

Later, Peter Afoba, SAN, who handled the proceedings for Obi and LP, submitted more materials to the PEPC to support their petition against Tinubu. These exhibits were accepted and designated as materials PB 16 to PB 21, and they were labelled as such.

The Justice Haruna Tsammani-led panel entered the exhibits into evidence, which consisted of certified authentic copies of the presidential election results from six states of the federation: Adamawa, Bayelsa, Oyo, Edo, Lagos, and Akwa Ibom.

Obi claimed in his suit that there was widespread vote suppression in Lagos State even though he won the presidential election there.

In addition, the petitioners provided the court with evidence, which included the outcome from the Bida Local Government Area in Niger State, which was accepted as Exhibit PE 24.

He submitted the election results from a few local government areas earlier on Thursday in the states of Rivers, Niger, Benue, Cross River, Osun, and Ekiti, but he omitted the Bida LGA from submission.

Other respondents, including INEC, protested to the document’s inclusion and stated that they would reserve their objections until the petition’s final address stage.

The results from 21 LGAs in Adamawa State were subsequently accepted by the court and designated as Exhibits PH 1 through PH 21. Exhibits PJ1 to PJ8 were designated as the presidential election results from the eight LGAs in Bayelsa State.

PK 1 through PK 31 were the results from the 31 LGAs in Oyo that the court accepted as exhibits, whereas PL 1 through PL 18 were the results from the 18 LGAs in Edo State.

Results from 31 LGAs in Akwa Ibom State and 20 LGAs in Lagos State were also tendered, and both sets of results were accepted as exhibits as Exhibits PM 1 through PM 20 and Exhibits PN 1 through PN 31.

The panel adjourned to Monday, May 5, for a further hearing in the matter.