LAGOS — President Bola Tinubu and his antagonists-Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Mr Peter Obi and the Allied Peoples Movement, APM, will resume the battle for the presidency, today, at the Supreme Court as Tinubu’s aides and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, expect favourable ruling at the apex court.
The former vice president is also seeking to get a Washington, D.C. court to order the FBI to release documents on President Tinubu’s $460,000 forfeiture case.The PDP, yesterday, expressed optimism that its appeal will succeed at the Supreme Court. “Nigerians and indeed the whole world look forward to the Supreme Court for justice in the hope that the court will apply the laws, including the express provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 , the Electoral Act, 2022 and INEC Guidelines and Regulations in delivering substantial justice in the matter.
“Atiku had wasted tons of dollars hiring Angela Liu to check President Tinubu’s record at Chicago State University. What he got in the main was a confirmation that President Tinubu attended the school, passed out in flying colours and did not forge any certificate. The February 2023 election losers, Peter Obi and Atiku, are now attempting to cling onto another straw, hoping for magic at the Supreme Court.
While Atiku, through his team of 67 lawyers comprising of 18 Senior Advocates of Nigeria led by Chief Chris Uche, SAN, filed 35 grounds of appeal to challenge Tinubu’s victory, Obi, through his own team of lawyers, led by Dr. Livy Uzoukwu, SAN, filed 51 grounds of appeal before the Supreme Court.
He argued that section 64 & of the Electoral Act, as well as INEC’s Regulations & Guidelines for the conduct of the election, which he tendered in evidence, made mandatory, the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, machines for electronic transmission of results of the election directly from the polling units to INEC’s collation system for the verification, confirmation and collation of results before announcement.
“The said FCT, Abuja, cannot be construed as the 37th state of Nigeria as done by the lower court in the light of the clear provisions of section 2 & section 3 of the 1999 Constitution. The lower court failed in its duty to interpret the material word ‘AND’ in the said sub-section.