The Presidential Election Petitions Court on Wednesday described as “unmeritorious”, the petitions of the Labour Party (LP) and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, claiming that President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was not duly elected during the February 25, 2023 poll.
On the contention by LP that Tinubu ought not to be declared winner of the election because he scored less than 25 per cent votes in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and was not duly elected by majority of lawful votes cast, the Tribunal held that the argument is “ridiculous”.
The five-man panel led by Justice Haruna Tsammani considered the directive of state policy and the preamble of the constitution that provides for the equality of citizens and held that by the provisions of Section 134 (2a) of the constitution, and without any form of equivocation, “scoring 25 percent in the FCT in a presidential election is not mandatory and this issue was also resolved against the petitioner and in favour of the respondent”.
The court subsequently declared LP’s petition clearly unmeritorious.
Credit: Channels Television
