The world is anticipating the results to be released by the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), as the court judgement, read by Justice Haruna Tsammani, would make or break any candidate’s political career, are being released today.

PEPC on APM’s Petition

The PEPC struck out the petition submitted by the Allied People’s Movement (APM); the latter’s petition was moved to fit the disqualification of Bola Tinubu and Kabir Shettima as they were not validly nominated.

The court stated that an invalid or double nomination was not legible as a cause for disqualification in respect of the presidential election in sections 131 and 137 of the constitution.

PEPC crosses out 10/13 LP witnesses due to late submission

The Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) has crossed out 10 out of 13 pieces of evidence brought forward by the presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and his political party, the Labour Party.

The rejected witnesses were meant to support Peter Obi’s claim of electoral malpractice against President Bola Tinubu; however, the court remarked that the witnesses who were subpoenaed at the request of the petitioners had all presented their statements, which included their evidence, were not submitted along with the petition within the stipulated timeframe 21 permitted by the Electoral Act.

The court subsequently rejected the documents which contained the report of analysis, tendered by the petitioners through the affected witnesses.

PEPC crosses out vague paragraphs by LP

The PEPC has cancelled 17 paragraphs of a petition by Peter Obi and the Labour Party (LP) for containing vague and generic allegations. The court request stated that the document submitted claims of malpractice along with anomalies found in the conduct of the election; however, they failed to procure the full details to back their accusations.

The court claimed that the petitioners could not provide the polling units where the malpractice took place, the number of votes and the polling unit that reported the electoral malpractice.

The PEPC rejects the European Union’s report on the 2023 Poll

The Presidential Election Petition Court has removed a copy of the information on the last election made by the EU Election Observers.

The court has also simultaneously rejected the 18,088 blurred results sheets presented by the petitioners on the base unrelated to polling units. The court believed that the petitioners lied and that it was impossible to identify the results sheets because they were blurry.

On the issue of President Tinubu’s $460,000 forfeiture

The court has discountenanced the objection, aiming to strike out documents submitted by Peter Obi and LP on the alleged drug trafficking indictment and the $460,000 forfeiture by Tinubu to the US government.

Justice Tsammani held that petitioners failed to offer credible evidence to prove that Tinubu was arraigned, took a plea deal, was sentenced, or fined in any criminal suit in America.

“The petitioners have evidently failed to establish their allegation that the 2nd respondent is disqualified from contesting the presidential election under Section 137(1) (d) of the 1999 constitution because he was fined $460,000 by a district court Illinois,” Justice Tsammani said.

On LP’s Petition of a technical glitch on INEC’s portal

The PEPC has refused the evidence presented by LP’s web designer, Mpeh Ogar, concerning the technical glitch witnessed on INEC’s result viewing portal because Ogar was recognised as a person of interest in desiring an elective office on the Labour Party’s platform.