The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal has struck out the petitions of the Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi challenging the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, President Bola Tinubu in the February 25, 2023 presidential election.
Delivering the judgement on the mode transmitting the election results on Wednesday, the Tribunal ruled that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was at liberty to decide the mode of transmission of election results.
The five-man panel led by Justice Haruna Tsammani said that according to Sections 52 and 65 of the Electoral Act 2022, INEC was at liberty to prescribe the manner in which election results were transmitted during the poll.
The Tribunal consequently dismissed the petition of the Labour Party (LP) and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, which argued that the victory of President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) be annulled on the basis on the “failure” of the commission’s Results Viewing Portal (IReV) to upload election results electronically in real time.
On the 25% FCT palaver, the Tribunal also dismissed Obi and LP’s petitions, saying that Abuja is like other states.
According to the court, FCT residents have no special privileges as the petitioners claimed.
The court also said the petitioners, Obi and the LP failed to prove that Tinubu was convicted for money laundering in the United States.
The Justice Tsammani panel ruled that no record of criminal arrest or conviction was established against Tinubu by the petitioners.
