The Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi and his party on Wednesday, tendered certified true copies of ward results of the presidential election, contained in forms EC8Bs from four states of the country before the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) sitting in Abuja.
When the petition came up for hearing Wednesday afternoon, counsel to the petitioners, Prof Paul Ananaba (SAN) tendered the forms EC8B series, being ward results of the February 25 presidential election from the four states of Ebonyi, Kaduna, Oyo and Nasarawa states.
A breakdown of the form EC8Bs tendered by the petitioners are from Wards in, 12 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Ebonyi, four LGAs of Kaduna, four from Oyo and one form EC8B from Keana LGA of Nasarawa state.
The petitioners also tendered forms EC8Cs- results of the presidential election from some Local Government Areas of 13 states across the country to prove their allegations contained in their joint petition challenging the election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
A breakdown of the Form EC8C series tendered by the petitioners on Wednesday are those from eight LGAs of Bayelsa state, 23 LGAs of Benue, 18 LGAs of Cross River, 10 LGAs of Ebonyi, 18 LGAs of Edo state, 20 LGAs of Lagos state, 25 LGAs of Niger state and 18 LGAs of Ondo state.
Others are, 33 LGAs of Oyo state, 23 LGAs of Rivers state, 23 LGAs of Sokoto state, 16 LGAs of Ekiti and from 25 LGAs of Delta state.
The petitioners also tendered the presidential election results contained in Forms EC8Ds duly certified by INEC from 36 states of the Federation and the FCT
The respondents in the petition, INEC, President Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima and the APC, through their various counsel, objected to the admissibility of all the documents tendered by the petitioners and said, they will give their reasons in their final written address.
But, the five-member panel of Justices of the court, headed by Justice Haruna Tsammani however admitted all the documents as exhibits.
Similarly, the petitioners tendered in evidence, INEC’s certified true copy of Form EC8DA – the national result of the presidential election from 36 states of the Federation and the FCT.
The electoral body, Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima and the APC, who are listed as first to fourth respondents in the petition did not object to the admissibility of the documents.
Obi and the Labour Party, in their petition marked CA/PEPC/03/2023 are challenging Tinubu’s declaration as the winner of the presidential election on the ground that the election was conducted in gross violation of the Constitution, the Electoral Act and INEC’s guidelines for the conduct of the election.
They also said Tinubu did not score 25 percent vote cast in the Federal Capital Territory as stated in the Electoral Act and as such cannot be returned as the winner of the election.
Further hearing of the petition continues on Thursday, June 8, 2023.
READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
