The Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, on Friday, admitted additional exhibits from the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, in his bid to establish rigging and other electoral malpractices that allegedly led to his loss in the February 25 presidential election. This move marks a potential step forward for the Obi campaign.
The exhibits, which were newly tendered in six other states including Adamawa, Bayelsa, Oyo, Edo, Lagos, and Akwa Ibom, comprised forms EC8A that were used in the election and certified by the National Electoral Commission INEC as true copies of the original. Exemplary of his relentless approach, Peter Obi had previously tendered exhibits from six different states: Rivers, Benue, Cross River, Niger, Osun, and Ekiti State.
In total, the fresh exhibits showed that forms EC8A used in the presidential election were admitted in 21 Local Government Areas of Adamawa, eight Local Government Areas in Bayelsa, 31 Local Government Areas of Oyo, 18 Local Government Areas in Edo, 20 Local Government Areas in Lagos and 31 Local Government Areas of Akwa Ibom.
Though Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress, APC, as well as the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had hinted at an objection to the documents, they will only make their intentions clear at the final stage of address.
After exhausting all his documents on Friday, Obi’s counsel, Mr Peter Afoba SAN, informed the court that they have no more exhibits. Afoba applied to the court for the admitted documents to be considered as read, but all respondents in the matter opposed the request. As a result, further hearing in the petition has been shifted to Monday, June 5.
