By Johnson Eyiangho, Abuja

The Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar and his party will on Thursday, June 22 close their case in their joint petition challenging the declaration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 presidential election.

The petitioners, according to a pre-hearing report were supposed to close their case yesterday but their lead counsel, Chief Chris Uche (SAN) brought to the notice of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) that they lost two days out of the days allotted to them and asked that the two days be returned.

The petitioners, who told the court during the pre-hearing session that they would call 100 witnesses, have only presented 25 witnesses so far.

Speaking with newsmen, Counsel to the petitioners said, they might call additional five witnesses to have a round figure of 30 witnesses.

Uche said some of the documents to be tendered in the remaining two days would take the place of the remaining 70 witnesses.

“We are closing our case on Thursday, it was supposed to end today (Tuesday) but because we lost two days, one of which was the June 12 public holiday, the court graciously extended our time by two days”, Uche told newsmen after the proceedings.

Earlier in the proceedings, the petitioners lamented the difficulties encountered in getting Certified True Copies (CTC) of documents out of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in aid of their joint petition challenging Tinubu’s election.

At the resumed hearing of the petition, Counsel to Atiku and his party told the court that, getting materials from INEC is like getting weapons from an opponent.

He told the Court that getting documents from INEC was very difficult, but commended the legal team of the electoral body, headed by Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN) for their assistance in getting some of the documents from INEC.

Uche applied for a stand-down in the proceedings to enable the petitioners mark the deluge of documents made available to them Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, counsel to INEC, Kemi Pinhero (SAN) told the court in his submissions that INEC officials brought the documents from all over the country and that the petitioners are yet to pay for the certification of the documents.

He said it was incumbent on the petitioners to prepare a schedule of documents they wish to tender.

The court rose for about ten minutes to enable parties in the petition put heads together and find a way forward with the documents.

When parties reconvened, Uche reported to the court that they have agreed that the petitioners go back with the documents, prepare a schedule of documents and mark them for tendering on Wednesday.

The five-member panel of Justices of the court, led by Justice Haruna Tsammani adjourned till Wednesday, June 21 for the continuation of hearing in the petition.

Tribunal Asks Labour Party to Show Proof on REC Summons

The Presidential Elections Petition Court, yesterday, asked the Labour Party to present proof that it served the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)’s Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) across the country summons to provide electoral documents.

This is the submission made by the court as the Labour Party insisted that the electoral body was frustrating its case by deliberately evading summons.

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi was present, alongside some members of the party to witness the proceedings yesterday. The Labour Party and the Peoples Democratic Party are challenging the victory of President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the Tribunal.

On the Labour Party’s petition, the justices asked the party to present proof that it served INEC RECs in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory summons to provide electoral documents following persistent calls that the electoral body was deliberately frustrating its case.

The five-member panel said it was clear that the Labour Party never issued subpoenas on the resident electoral commissioners in the states where it is seeking documents.

Counsel for Labour Party, Livy Uzoukwu had informed the court that INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, had given his commitment that all electoral documents will be made available on demand, from the RECs.

However, the court stated that the party did not explore Section 74 of the Electoral Act which stated that they must, on demand, provide documents within 14 days to the said party or pay a fine of N2m or imprisonment, or both, for defaulters.

The court said it was clear that the party didn’t lodge a complaint on the delay of documents, and has also failed to apply the penalty clause as stipulated in section 74.

The court added that whatever happened between the Labour Party and INEC was without the involvement of the court.

Meanwhile, under cross-examination for the party, a witness, Clarissa Ogar, who is a staff of amazon, admitted to be in court in her own capacity.

She said there was no technical glitch on the INEC server during the presidential election.

She, however, admitted that glitches can occur at any time while using the amazon software and application.

The court stood down its proceedings and reconvened at 2pm.

At the resumed hearing, the presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar and his party told the court that they will close their case challenging the declaration of Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 presidential election on Thursday.

According to a pre-hearing report, the petitioners, were supposed to close their case on Tuesday but their lead counsel, Chris Uche brought to the notice of the court that they lost two days out of the days allotted to them and asked that the days be returned to them.

The petitioners have so far called 25 witnesses out of the 100 witnesses they proposed.

He said they might call additional five witnesses to have a round figure of 30 witnesses called.

The counsel for the PDP said that some of the documents to be tendered in the remaining two days would take the place of the remaining 70 witnesses.

Like the counsels for the Labour Party, he also lamented the difficulties encountered in getting certified true copies of documents out of INEC to aid them in challenging Tinubu’s election.

He, however, commended the legal team of the electoral body, for their assistance in getting some of the documents.

The five member panel of justices, led by Justice Haruna Tsammani adjourned till Wednesday, June 21 for continuation of hearing in the petitions.

PDP Insists on Victory in 2023 Presidential Election

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday insisted that without prejudice to ongoing case at the Presidential Election Petition Court, its Candidate, Atiku Abubakar, won the 2023 Presidential Election.

The PDP National Organising Secretary (NOS), Umar Bature, stated this in his remarks at the party’s “Select Committee meeting” at the PDP National Secretariat in Abuja.

“This party believes that Atiku Abubakar won the election but we are in court and without prejudice to what the court will decide, we will keep it aside,” Bature said.

He also expressed strong belief that the PDP will win ongoing governorship cases in tribunals in Kaduna, Nasarawa, Ogun and Sokoto states.

“We believe strongly that the ongoing tribunal cases in Kaduna, Nasarawa, Ogun and Sokoto States will be in our favour.

“Let me give a preview of our performance in the last election. In the State House of Assemblies, we have 342 members, we have 116 members in the House of Representatives. In the Senate, we have 36 members and we have 13 Governors.”

The Acting National Chairman of the PDP, Amb. Umar Damagun, in his address of welcome earlier, said the meeting was to review the outcome of the 2023 general elections and share ideas on how to strengthen the party to face challenges ahead.

“We have had series of meetings with the members of the National Ex officio, state chairmen, select BoT and members of the National Assembly. This is a continuation of that meeting and it was borne out of what has happened during those meetings and we said there was need for us to call this one.

“This meeting is going to be an interactive session and I want us to be conscious of the fact that while making your contributions we should be mindful of the fact that we are one family.

“Anybody that is in this hall today is here by the virtue of the fact that he/she meant well for this party. I want to enjoin us to contribute in a manner that will not hurt the sensibilities of others. We are one family and so we shall remain,” Damagun said.

In his contribution, Sen. Adolphus Wabara, the PDP Acting Chairman, Board of Trustees (BOT), expressed confidence that the party will recover its “stolen mandate.”

“Frankly speaking, I didn’t expect that we still have this number in our party. I want to congratulate all of us for this having faith in this party. This is what will make us strong to clinch our stolen victory.  We should not despair. We are in politics! 

“As our acting National Chairman mentioned, they stole our mandate. We hope the tribunal and the courts will give us back our stolen mandate. Much as some of us may disagree with the synopsis, because we are still in court, we should mind what we are going to say today so it doesn’t work against us in the court.

“Let us watch how we attack ourselves. There will be time for that. The BOT waits to take some advisory decisions but then this is not the time,” Wabara said.

The PDP had invited 183 of its members, including past governors, members of the National Assembly and other members for the select Committe meeting.

However, conspicuously absent at the meeting are former Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike and his group of G-5 colleagues, among other invitees.

Obi Asking for Non-existent Documents – INEC

Some documents requested by the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) at the 2023 election, Mr Peter Obi to be presented as exhibits at the Presidential Election Tribunal are non-existent.

INEC made the declaration before the court sitting in Abuja yesterday.

Obi and the Labour Party (LP) are challenging the Feb. 25 election of President Bola Tinubu before the court in a petition marked CA/PEPC/03/2023.

Respondents in the petition are INEC, President Tinubu, Vice-President Kashim Shettima and their All Progressives Congress (APC).

Giving evidence before the court, Mr Lawrence Bayode, Deputy Director, ICT at INEC told the court that out of the five documents Obi asked for; two were non-existent, while one was work in progress.

One of Obi’s witnesses, Ms Loretta Ogah, an ICT cloud engineer, said she contested election into the House of Representatives on the platform of Labour Party in Cross River, but lost the election.

Ogah was cross-examined by Mr Wole Olanipakun (SAN), counsel for Tinubu and Shettima.

She told the court that she sued INEC after her loss because the electoral umpire did not list her name on its portal as a result of network failure.

Also cross-examined by Mr Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), counsel for APC, Ogah told the court that glitches did not occur on INEC portal on Feb. 25.

She said she did not know INEC’s password protocol as she was not INEC’s employee.

The court, presided over by Justice Haruna Tsammani, adjourned further hearing to Wednesday. (NAN)