Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar have filed separate appeals at the Supreme Court of Nigeria to challenge the PEPC's verdict that upheld President Bola Tinubu's election.
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Peter Obi heads to Supreme Court over February 2023 elections. Photo: Premium Times[/caption]
In their initial petitions to the PEPC, Obi and Atiku accused Nigeria's electoral commission, INEC, and President Tinubu of electoral malpractices. They also contested Tinubu's qualification to stand for the election.
The PEPC, in its decision, found that Obi and Atiku failed to substantiate their claims of electoral fraud against INEC and the president.
Peter Obi's lead counsel, Livy Uzoukwu, has filed his appeal to the Supreme Court based on 51 grounds.
Some of the key arguments include the court's alleged erroneous evaluation of evidence and its reliance on the First Schedule of the Electoral Act 2022 to expunge certain witnesses' statements on oath from the court's records,
Vanguard reports.
The PEPC had dismissed the testimonies of some of Obi's key witnesses, including a web engineer and a statistician, as well as their reports. This dismissal was based on the contention that Obi did not accompany his petition with the statements on oath of all his witnesses at the time of filing.
Obi's appeal argues that his right to a fair hearing was violated when the PEPC dismissed the evidence of 10 out of his 13 witnesses.
The appeals revolve around allegations of electoral malpractices and the legitimacy of the presidential election results.
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