THE Labour Party (LP) and its candidate in the February 25 presidential election, Peter Obi, have submitted more than 18,000 polling unit results as evidence in their petition challenging the election result.
According to the petitioners, the results were downloaded from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) result viewing portal (iREV).
However, all the result sheets provided were found to be blurry.
During the court proceedings, Obi’s counsel, Onyeachi Ikpeazu, informed the court that the documents retrieved from the INEC result viewing website were distorted and unclear after being downloaded.
In addition to the blurred result sheets, the party also called two witnesses to testify in support of its petition.
One of the witnesses, a professor of Mathematics from the Anambra State University, Eric Ofuegbu, presented three reports and a sworn statement to the tribunal.
The reports included an analysis of election scores in Rivers state, another report from Benue state, and a statistical investigation into the votes received by the candidates in the presidential election.
Despite objections from INEC, Bola Tinubu, Kashim Shettima, and the All Progressives Congress (APC), the reports and witness statements were accepted as evidence by the court and marked as exhibits.
But the cross-examination of the witness has been postponed until Friday.
The petitioners also presented a video featuring the INEC chairman, Mahmoud Yakubu, assuring the public that the election results would be transmitted from over 176,000 polling units and that the IREV platform would serve as an archive for Nigerians to access the results at any time.
This video display aims at supporting the petitioner’s argument regarding the transmission and accessibility of election results.
Obi’s petition
In their petition, Obi and the LP argued that when Tinubu’s running mate, Kashim Shettima, became the vice presidential candidate, he was still nominated as the APC candidate for the Borno Central senatorial election.
They also challenged Tinubu’s eligibility, alleging that he was previously indicted and fined $460,000.00 by a United States District Court for an offence involving dishonesty and drug trafficking.
Obi, who came third according to results announced by INEC, claimed that the election was invalid due to corrupt practices and non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.
He argued that INEC breached its regulations and guidelines by not prescribing and deploying technological devices for voter accreditation, verification, continuation, and authentication as required.
The petitioner sought a declaration from the court that Tinubu was not qualified to contest the election and that all votes recorded for him were wasted.
He also requested the court to determine that he received a majority of lawful votes and satisfied constitutional requirements to be declared the winner.
In the alternative, he called for the cancellation of the election and the conduct of a fresh election in which Tinubu, Shettima, and the APC would not participate.
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