The Labour Party’s leadership and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, have been given a 21‑day window for the elections petition tribunal to set a hearing date for his case, according to Chief Spokesman Dr Yunusa Tanko of the Obi‑Datti Presidential Campaign Council. Tanko disclosed this during an exclusive interview, noting that the tribunal’s response period must first elapse before a hearing can be scheduled. He added that the legal procedure is standard and that a copy of the petition has been shared with the media to keep the public informed.
Obi formally filed the petition on Tuesday, challenging the outcome of the February 25 poll. The filing comes four weeks after the contentious presidential and National Assembly elections that produced President‑elect Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. While Tanko did not explain the delay in filing, a party source said Obi needed time to gather evidence of alleged massive rigging, voter intimidation and corruption by the electoral body. “Obi doesn’t like speaking without facts, which is why he took his time before officially filing the case,” the source explained.
The petition, marked CA/PEPC/03/2023, lists Obi and the Labour Party as plaintiffs. The respondents include the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), President‑elect Bola Tinubu, his deputy Kashim Shettima, and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Among the grounds for the challenge, Obi argues that Tinubu was not eminently qualified to contest an offence involving narcotics trafficking and alleges that INEC failed to comply with its own guidelines and the Electoral Act.
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