By NewsBits
The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Peter Obi, has expressed confidence in the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, saying the judiciary will deliver the right judgement.
Obi stated this while speaking in an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Thursday morning. Recall that the Labour Party presidential candidate is challenging the result of the just concluded February 25, presidential election.
Obi said he had no reason to doubt the court, adding that Nigeria has one of the finest judiciaries in the world, but politicians are the people trying to corrupt the judiciary with “transactions.”
He said, “They are now dealing with the lawyers, I don’t go to INEC, I’m not part of it. Well, I believe the lawyers are satisfied and if they are, it’s no longer about me trusting INEC, there’s now something between the two of us. So, if our lawyers trust them I’m fine with that.”
“I am confident in the judiciary. I am because I have stayed in court for three years when people said it’s impossible for you to become a governor through the court and I became the first. Remember I was impeached and again the court brought me back.
“And I went for an interpretation where I said, ‘my tenure is not complete.’ People said it’s impossible because somebody else had been elected but I changed it. So, having gone through courts, several of them, I have not had any course to doubt the court.
“I believe Nigeria has one of the best judiciaries globally, but it is we, politicians, because of our transactional nature, that are trying to ensure that everywhere is corrupted, and that I wish can start reversing, even with this case.
“They are seeing globally what is happening, Africans are surprised that the giant of Africa can no longer deliver. Even Ghana will soon have elections and they will do all without the BVAS and it will go smoothly.
“I don’t go anywhere referring to how others were treated. Irrespective of their controversial judgments recently (referring to the Supreme Court), I have confidence that they know the country is collapsing, they know they have to help to build a better place for their children.”
Recall also that INEC had been under fire for its inability to upload the results of the presidential election from all polling units across the federation to its Results Viewing Portal on election day. On Wednesday, March 1, 2023, INEC declared Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC President-elect and winner of the election.
Tinubu polled about 8.8 million votes ahead of his rivals in the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, who polled 6.9 million votes and Obi himself, who polled 6.1 million votes. Disturbed by the election results and INEC’s declaration, Labour Party approached the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal to grant it permission to inspect the election materials used by the commission during the February 25 polls, including the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, which was the major technology deployed during the polls to enhance a free and free process.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the electoral body, Mahmood Yakubu, while receiving lawyers from the Labour Party on Monday, had assured the party stakeholders that the commission had nothing to hide. The INEC chief pledged to provide all documents requested to aid the ongoing suit.
