A witness of President Bola Tinubu and Vice-President Kashim
Shettima told the election petition court on Wednesday that 25 percent of the
votes cast in the federal capital territory (FCT) is not a criterion for
winning the election.
Here are the major takeaways from the proceedings
‘OBI NOT QUALIFIED TO CONTEST’
Tinubu and Shettima, through their lawyer Wole Olanipekun,
told the court that Peter Obi was not a registered member of the Labour Party
(LP) at the time he contested the presidential election.
The president and his deputy tendered a copy of the LP
membership register for Anambra state.
The respondents’ lawyer displayed the document alongside
LP’s letter, which is dated April 25, 2022.
The letter indicated that the membership register was
forwarded to the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC).
Olanipekun tendered 12 sets of documents in evidence during
the hearing.
SENATE MAJORITY LEADER SERVES AS WITNESS
Opeyemi Bamidele, senator representing Ekiti central and the
majority leader of the senate, was called as Tinubu and Shettima’s first
witness.
Bamidele said 10,929 votes were deducted from the total
number of votes polled by APC in Kano state.
On allegations of drug trafficking against the president,
the senator said Tinubu was never convicted in the US, adding that no charge
was filed against him in any court.
The legislator was shown the LP voter register to identify
whether or not Obi’s name was in it.
He confirmed that Obi’s name was not in the register, which
the LP submitted to INEC on April 25, 2022.
‘25% VOTES IN FCT NOT
NEEDED TO BECOME PRESIDENT’
Under cross-examination in the petition filed by the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP), Bamidele, who was presented as the second and third
witness of the respondents, admitted that Tinubu polled only 19 percent of votes
cast in the FCT.
Bamidele said 25 percent of FCT votes is not needed to
declare a candidate winner of the presidential election.
The senate majority leader told the court that the judgment
of a US court on forfeiture of $460,000 by the president was a civil suit and
not a criminal matter.
Bamidele was the only witness called by the president and
his vice.
The respondents subsequently proceeded to close their case.
APC: WE WON’T WHIP DEAD HORSES
Lateef Fagbemi, APC counsel, said the party would not tender
evidence or call witnesses in the petitions filed by Obi and Atiku Abubakar.
Fagbemi said the evidence adduced by the second and third
respondents was enough to support the case of the APC.
“Having taken a sober reflection of the entire case we have
enough evidence and we are not calling any witness,” he said.
“We do not intend to whip dead horses. We announce the
closure of the case of the 3rd respondent.”
PARTIES TO FILE AND EXCHANGE FINAL ADDRESSES
The five-member panel of the court, headed by Haruna
Tsammani, directed all respondents in the suit to file their final brief of
argument within 10 days while the petitioners have seven days to submit theirs.
The respondents were also directed to get their reply to the
petitioners’ address five days after they must have been served.
The court said the date for the adoption of the final
written addresses would be communicated to all parties.
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