Top lawyers have revealed that the candidate of the Labour Party in the February 25, 2023 presidential election, Peter Obi, who is challenging the victory of President Bola Tinubu at the tribunal, may be wasting his time and resources chasing shadow the court. It is said that his prayers to remove Tinubu will be rendered a nullity on the same ground on which victory of member House of Representatives representing Aniocha-Oshimili Federal Constituency, Delta State, Honorable Ngozi Okolie was nullified by the tribunal.
The National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Asaba, Delta State, on Monday nullified the election of Ngozi Okolie of the Labour Party, LP, for the House of Representatives.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had declared Okolie winner of the Aniocha-Oshimili Federal Constituency election during the Federal 2023 presidential and National Assembly elections.
But Ndudi Elumelu of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP dragged the lawmaker to court, claiming that the LP candidate was not qualified to contest for the poll.
During its judgement on Monday, the tribunal held that Okolie was not duly sponsored by the Labour Party since he was not a member of the party as of May 28, 2022, when the party’s primary was held.
The court therefore declared the runner-up in the February 25, 2023 National Assembly, Ndudi Elumelu of the PDP, the winner.
A popular constitutional lawyer who does not want his name mentioned share position of some other lawyers who also prefer to be anonymous, that candidate of the Labour Party in the presidential election,Peter Obi will be eventually thrown out by the tribunal as illegitimate on the account of fact that he didn’t meet the requirement of the law to stand for the election in the first place because his membership of Labour Party as the time he was nominated by the party was irregular.
“Just like those lawyers said to you, Peter Obi s only entertaining Nigerians at the tribunal like one Pastor once said, because he doesn’t have legitimate ground to stand for the election in the place, and an election you could not stand, there’s no way you can challenge the outcome”. The popular lawyer told Justnews.
“It’s on the ground the Labour Party candidate in Delta, Ngozie Okolie that was declared winner for House of Reps seat, has been sacked that Obi’s case will be thrown out. The tribunal established the guy was not a member of Labour Party as at the time the party held it primary, and according to the exhibit presented by APC which tribunal admitted, Obi only joined Labour Party about three days to the Primary election where he picked the party’s ticket. Meanwhile, the stipulates that you must have been member of a party for a particular period of time to be able to participate in the Primary. So, it’s not out of place to say Obi has lost already”.
Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu and Vice President, Kashim Settima presented evidence that Obi is not a member of the Labour Party. A copy of the Labour Party membership register for Anambra State was submitted as evidence to the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT).
The president and his vice opened their defense in the petition filed by Obi and the Labour Party challenging their declaration as winners of the February 25 presidential election.
They said that Obi who allegedly was not a party member during the last presidential poll was ineligible to contest the election under the LP.
During the defense proceedings at the Tribunal sitting at a court in Abuja, their legal representative, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), presented the membership register along with a letter from the Labour Party, dated April 25, 2022, which was addressed to the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as supporting documents.
Tinubu and Shettima also claimed that Obi resigned from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on May 26, 2022 only to join the Labour Party on May 27, 2022.
According to them, the LP held its Presidential Primary election on May 30, 2022 where Obi emerged as the candidate for the general election.
The counsel for Tinubu and Shettima argued that according to Section 77(3) of the Electoral Act, they were obligated to submit their comprehensive register of members to INEC 30 days before their presidential primary.
This implies that the register should have been submitted to INEC on or before April 30, 2022.
They claim that as of April 30, 2022, Obi was still a member of the PDP, and his name was not included in the register of members submitted by the LP to INEC.
