The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday rejected some documents tendered before the election Petition Court by Peter Obi and the Labour Party (LP), in their suit challenging the victory of President Bola Tinubu.
It has been reported that Obi and the Labour Party presented certified true copies of election results contained in Forms EC 8As from six states of the federation, in support of their petition.
In their joint petition marked CA/PEPC/03/2023, Obi and his Labour Party are contending that President Tinubu was not the valid winner of the February 25 presidential election in Nigeria.
They are debating the eligibility of Tinubu to participate in the presidential contest.
When proceedings resumed on Friday, the petitioners tendered further election results in six other states including Adamawa Bayelsa, Oyo, Edo, Lagos and Akwa Ibom apart from the ones presented on Thursday.
However, the counsel to INEC, Kemi Pinhero (SAN), opposed the admissibility of the additional results from Rivers State, which it said were “strange.”
The lawyer however told the court that the Commission would advance reasons why it opposed the admissibility of the results, in its final written address.
But after his initial submission, Pinhero went ahead to tell the court that INEC objected to the tendering of the election result sheets because the petitioners went beyond the areas where the election was being disputed.
He said those local government areas improperly brought into the proceedings of the court are strange to the petition and cannot stand in the face of the law.
His speech was however interjected by the chairman of the five-man election petition panel, Justice Harunna Tsammani, who held that it was unacceptable for the lawyer to give reasons for their objection after the commission had indicated that it would advance reasons at the address stage of proceedings.
The Court admitted supplementary evidence presented by Obi and LP from parts of Rivers state and Niger states which continued from the previous day, and exhibits in six other states including Adamawa, Bayelsa, Oyo, Edo, Lagos and Akwa Ibom state(s).
A Breakdown of the fresh exhibits showed that forms EC8A were admitted in 21 Local Government Areas of Adamawa, 8 in Local Government Areas of Bayelsa, 31 Local Government Areas of Oyo, 18 Local Government Areas of Edo, 20 Local Government Areas of Lagos and 31 Local Government Areas of Akwa Ibom.
After listening to all parties, the panel adjourned to Monday, May 5, for a further hearing on the matter.
