In order to prove his victory in the presidential election held on February 25, Labour Party candidate Mr. Peter Obi produced certified copies of the results from six federation-wide states on Thursday.
The results, which came from 115 Local Government Areas (LGAs), were presented by Obi as evidence before the Abuja-based Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC).
Obi's legal team was headed by Prof. Awa Kalu, SAN, although one of his attorneys, Chief Emeka Opoko, SAN, submitted the Forms EC8A from the Bar, which contained the election results.
The first set of election results presented to the court by the LP candidate, who finished third in the presidential election, came from 15 of Rivers State's 22 LGAs.
All of the respondents in the case objected, but the five-member panel headed by Justice Haruna Tsammani accepted the Rivers state results and designated them as Exhibits PD 1 through PD 15.
Results from 18 LGAs in Cross River State were introduced to the evidence as Exhibits PD1 - PD 18, while results from 23 LGAs in Benue State were equally tendered by Obi and the LP and marked as Exhibits PC 1 to PC 23.
Obi submitted Forms EC8A from 23 LGAs in Niger state, which were accepted as Exhibits PE-1 through PE23, together with those from 20 LGAs in Osun state, which were designated as Exhibits PF 1 through PF 20.
The petitioners' most recent evidence included test results from 16 LGAs in the Ekiti region, which were designated Exhibits PG 1 through PG 16.
Later, the Justice Tsammani-led panel postponed further discussion of the case until Friday.
In their last written message, each respondent stated that they would explain their objections to the presidential election results that Obi and the LP had submitted as evidence.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, President Bola Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima, and the All Progressives Congress, APC, are listed as the petitioner's first through fourth respondents.
Remember that Obi and the LP had said they would call a total of 50 witnesses in the case?
Obi specifically claims that President Tinubu was not the legitimate victor of the election in the joint petition he filed with the LP.
In the case with the case number CA/PEPC/03/2023, the petitioners also argued that President Tinubu was ineligible to run for office.
The petitioners contend that Shettima was still the APC's senatorial candidate for Borno Central when Tinubu's running mate, Shettima, switched to campaign for vice president.
The petitioners further contested Tinubu's eligibility to run for president, claiming that he had previously been charged with fraud and drug trafficking and fined $460,000 by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Case No: 93C 4483.
The petitioners stated that INEC operated in violation of its own Regulations and Guidelines on the grounds that the election was unlawful due to corrupt activities and non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.
The petitioners argued that the electoral body was legally required to establish and implement technological devices for the accreditation, verification, continuation, and authentication of voters and their information as specified in its Regulations during the conduct of the presidential election.
Because of his disqualification or non-qualification, they are asking the court, among other things, to declare that all the votes cast for Tinubu and the APC were wasted votes.
"That it is determined that on the basis of the remaining votes (after discountenancing the votes credited to the 2nd Respondent) the 1st Petitioner (Obi) scored a majority of the lawful votes cast at the election and had not less than 25% of the votes cast in at least 2/3 of the States of the Federation, and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, and satisfied the constitutional requirements to be declared the winner of the 25th February 2023 presidential election.
“That it be determined that the 2nd Respondent having failed to score one-quarter of the votes cast at the presidential election in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja was not entitled to be declared and returned as the winner of the presidential election held on 25th February 2023.
As a backup plan, the petitioners are asking for a ruling that declares the election void and orders INEC to hold a new election in which Tinubu, Shettima, and the APC—listed as the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th respondents, respectively—shall not run.
They requested the court to rule that Tinubu's return as the winner of the presidential election was illegal, unconstitutional, and had no bearing at all because he had not been properly elected by a majority of the valid votes cast in the election.
The petitioners further ask the court to declare that the presidential election was invalid since it was not substantially conducted in line with the terms of the Electoral Act of 2022 and the 1999 Constitution, as amended.