Breaking: PEPT Declares that Abuja has no Special Status thereby Dismiss Obi’s 25% Win in Abuja Claim
The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal has ruled that the most talked about mandatory 25% win in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is actually not constitutional.
I the judgement the tribunal dismisses LP/Obi’s Petition on 25 per cent needed to win the presidential election, according to the court, FCT residents have no special privileges as the petitioners claimed and it is thereby dismissed.
Labour party Presidential candidates Peter Obi and his followers has been nursing the hope that they stand a chance the ambiguity of the usage of and of the said section of the constitution present but this has now been put to bed by the declaration of the court of Appeal sitting on the election matter
BREAKING: Court rejects 10 out of 13 witnesses presented by Obi
The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal said it rejected 10 out of 13 witnesses presented by the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi.
Justice Haruna Tsammani, who took over to deliver judgment on the substantive petition filed by Obi and LP, said this on Wednesday.
Tsammani said Obi called 13 witnesses, who testified as PW1 to PW13, noting that of the 13 witnesses, only three witnesses whose statements are on oath, were filed along with the petition.
The remaining 10 witnesses, the Justice said, were subpoenaed and their witness statements on oath were only filed after the hearing started.
Tsammani held that by virtue of section 285 of the Nigerian constitution, section 137(7) of the Electoral Act 2022, and other provisions, every witness statement on oath must be filed along with the petition.
He said that based on the Supreme Court authority, once the 21-day window for filing an election petition elapses, the content of the petition cannot be amended.
The Justice stated further that no additional statement on oath can be filed after the close of the specified window since the respondents would not have the opportunity to respond.
Tsammani said the petitioners were aware of the legal provision relating to the filing of witness statements on oath, yet went ahead to present 10 witnesses without their witness statements on oath earlier filed with the petition.
