As the legal battle surrounding the controversial February 25, 2023 presidential election rages, with the two major opposition candidates Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party PDP and Mr Peter Obi of the Labour Party LP currently before the 2023 presidential election petition tribunal challenging the victory of the All Progressives Congress APC candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the election;
In what many consider as Nigeria’s most talked about presidential election tribunal since the country returned to democracy in 1999, Atiku and Obi, who came second and third, are individually asking the court to void the election and disqualify Tinubu and conduct a rerun, or outrightly declare them winner of the election.
Since 2005, nine Nigerian governors have regained their mandate through the court after they were rigged out at the poll. Despite the legal fireworks that have trailed presidential polls for over 20 years, no Nigerian president has ever been removed from office by the judiciary. However, Peter Obi, who became the governor of Anambra State after the Appeal Court declared him the winner on March 15, 2006, after nearly three years of legal battle, is again praying the court to nullify the 2023 presidential election.
In his final address to the tribunal, in response to INEC and the All Progress Congress’ (APC) final defense, Obi, among other things, is seeking a rerun in which Bola Tinubu will not be eligible to contest.
Here are 10 main points upon which Peter Obi’s case is based as compiled by Neusroom.
1 Kashim Shettima’s double nomination
According to the final address, Peter Obi claims that Vice President Kashim Shettima was the nominated candidate for the Borno Central Senatorial District before Tinubu nominated him as running mate. Their debate is based on Section 35 of the Electoral Act 2022, which states that “where a candidate knowingly allows himself to be nominated by more than one political party or in more than one constituency, his nomination shall be void.”
The address claims that Shettima was nominated as the Vice Presidential candidate on July 14, 2023, while he was still a senatorial candidate.
Peter Obi argues that the “invalid nomination of Shettima as the Vice Presidential candidate nullified the nomination/election of Bola Tinubu as the Presidential candidate, within the meaning of the provision of section 142 of the 1999 constitution as amended.
2 Bola Tinubu’s forfeiture of $460,000 to the US government
While Tinubu’s alleged money laundering and drug-related crimes have been public knowledge, the 2023 election saw a renewed public interest as many Nigerians demanded further investigation and proper clarification.
Peter Obi and his legal team are claiming that the forfeiture of $460,000 by the former governor of Lagos state amounts to a fine and contravenes section 137 (1) (d) of the Nigerian constitution.
Section 137 (1) (d) states that “a person shall not be qualified for election to the office of President if he is under a sentence of death imposed by any competent court of law or tribunal in Nigeria or a sentence of imprisonment or fine for any offense involving dishonesty or fraud (by whatever name called) or for any other offense, imposed on him by any court or tribunal or substituted by a competent authority for any other sentence imposed on him by such a court or tribunal.”
3 Transmission of election results from polling units to the IReV portal in real-time
One of the controversial issues raised during the presidential election was the purported delay in the transmission of the presidential election results to the IReV portal from the polling units as promised by the electoral body.
The Electoral Act signed by former president Muhammadu Buhari in 2022 gave INEC the legal backing to introduce and use any technology for the conduct of elections. One of the technologies introduced by the commission was the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the Result Viewing Portal (IREV). However, INEC, in their written address to the tribunal, has claimed that during the presidential election, there were technical glitches that prevented the uploading of results, although the National Assembly election, held on the same day, using the same BVAS, was largely uploaded to the portal.
Peter Obi argues that INEC’s failure to “transmit or upload the result of the presidential election held on February 25, 2023, was a violation of the collation process prescribed under the Electoral Act and also substantially affected the result of the election.”
4 Tinubu’s failure to win 25% in Abuja
Peter Obi’s final address against INEC and Tinubu is also partly hinged on the widely debated section 134 of the Nigerian constitution, which provides that for a “presidential candidate to be declared the winner, they must have the highest number of votes cast at the election and not less than one-quarter of the votes cast at the election in each of at least two-thirds of all the States in the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.”
The controversy regarding Abuja votes has continued to divide opinions among citizens and legal practitioners.
“From the purported result of the presidential election announced/declared by INEC on March 1, 2023, Bola Tinubu and Shettima as candidates of the APC did not win one-quarter (25%) of votes cast at the election held on February 25, 2023, in the federal capital territory, as required by the correct meaning and interpretation of the provision of section 134 (2) (b) of the 1999 constitution as amended,” the petition reads in part.
5 Discrepancies between the margin of declared results and evidence from Form EC8A
Peter Obi is also asking the court to nullify the election based on uncovered irregularities from Form EC8A. In the evidence brought to the court, the petitioners claimed that results from 18,088 polling units were blurred copies of Form EC8A, which shows that the total number of accredited voters and the number of collected PVCs in those polling units were 2,565,269 and 9,165,191, respectively. But with the results blurred and ineligible to read, the 2.5 million accredited voters in those polling units were far more than the margin Tinubu surpassed Peter Obi in the declared result from those polling units. Hence, the election ought to be nullified/invalidated.
6 Irregularities in result from the IREV portal
There has been a wide claim that some of the uploaded results on the IReV portal were blurred, while others were not result sheets or were entirely inaccessible.
Peter Obi also claimed that 39,546 polling units, with 23,119,298 people who collected their PVCs and 5,532,553 voters who were accredited to vote in those polling units, were inaccessible on the IReV.
“The figure of 23,119,298 and/or 5,532,554 referred to above is far more than the purported margin of lead in the INEC announced the return of the election, for which the election itself ought to be declared as inconclusive, invalid, and or null and void,” the petition reads in part.
7 Manipulation of election results
The 2023 presidential election was characterised by allegations of result manipulation, mutilation, and cancellation of results. In their final address to the tribunal, Peter Obi and his legal team claimed that INEC’s refusal to provide some certified copies of the ‘top copies’ (Electoral Operation Copies) shows sufficient proof of irregularities.
8 Peter Obi won Rivers and Benue State
In INEC’s declared results, Tinubu won Benue State with 310,468 votes, closely trailed by Peter Obi who polled 308,372. Also, in Rivers State, there was a surprising turn when Tinubu was declared the winner of the oil-rich state with 231,591 votes after Obi maintained an earlier lead. In Obio-Akpor, the Local Government Area of ex-governor Nyesom Wike, Tinubu scored 80,239 while Obi scored 3,829, which sparked debates that the election results from the LGA were doctored.
However, in the final address to the tribunal, Peter Obi said that results uploaded to the IReV portal showed that he won Rivers State.
“A significant highlight of the expert Data Analysis (Data Report), produced by PW4, is that upon a proper and accurate computation of the result of the election in Rivers and Benue States, using the Forms EC8As uploaded on the IReV, and the certified copies of the Forms EC8As given by the 1st Respondent to the Petitioners, is that the Petitioners won the Presidential election held in Rivers and Benue States,” the address read in part.
9 Why FTC is not to be considered a state
Citing Abubakar v. Yar’ Adua (2008), Peter Obi and his legal team described ‘and’ as used in section 134 (2) (b) of the constitution as a conjunctive. This means that ‘and’ as used in that section (has not less than one-quarter of the votes cast at the election in each of at least two-thirds of all the States in the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja) was an adjective that formed a combination between the two phrases.
The petitioners lay claim that “the language of the Constitution is clearly to the effect that a candidate to be declared a winner of the Presidential election must secure at least one quarter (25%) of the votes cast in two-thirds of the entire 36 States of the Federation (that is in 24 states). Additionally, that candidate must also secure not less than 25% of the votes cast at the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.”
10 Kenya 2017 election
In their conclusion, the petitioners borrowed the final Supreme Court judgment between Raila Odinga and Anor Vs Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission and ORS in 2017, where the apex court of Kenya removed Uhuru Kenyatta and reminded the tribunal judges that neglecting evidence before them would be a dereliction of their duties.
The ruling reads in part, “To dishonestly exercise that delegated power and to close our eyes to constitutional violations would be a dereliction of duty, and we refuse to accept the invitation to do so, however popular the invitation may seem. Therefore, however burdensome, let the majesty of the Constitution reverberate across the lengths and breadths of our motherland; let it bubble from our rivers and oceans; let it boomerang from our hills and mountains; let it serenade our households from the trees; let it sprout from our institutions of learning; let it toll from our sanctums of prayer; and to those who bear the responsibility of leadership, let it be a constant irritant.”
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