Robert Clark, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), believes that nothing will come out of Peter Obi of the Labour Party and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) appeal of Wednesday’s judgement of the Presidential Election Petitions Court at the Supreme Court.
“My personal view has been enriched by past experience in the dispensation of justice at the bar,” the 85-year-old legal luminary said this on the Channels TV Sunday Politics programme, expressing strong confidence in the unanimous judgement of the Court of Appeal, describing it as unassailable and saying, “It is as fixed as you can fix anything.”
He added, “I can assure you that if there is an appeal, I doubt whether anything can come out of the appeal.”
According to Clark, all the legal issues presented by the petitioners at the Tribunal had already been addressed by the country’s highest court. He agreed with the Tribunal’s view that the petitioners couldn’t sufficiently prove their claims.
The election petitions court recently issued a comprehensive judgement, spanning 12 hours, rejecting the petitions filed by the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), the PDP along with its candidate Abubakar, and the Labour Party along with its presidential candidate Obi.
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The five-judge panel, led by Justice Haruna Tsammani, not only dismissed these combined petitions but also upheld President Bola Tinubu’s victory in the February 25, 2023, presidential election.
Furthermore, the court ruled that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had the discretion to decide how to transmit election results during the said election.
It also dismissed Obi and LP’s petitions regarding Tinubu’s vote share in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), noting that Abuja was treated like other states.
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The court clarified that the Electoral Act of 2022 did not include provisions for electronic transmission of election results.
He added that the Tribunal determined that Obi was unable to substantiate his claim that Tinubu had been convicted of money laundering in the United States.
The panel concluded that neither Obi nor the LP could provide evidence of a criminal arrest or conviction against Tinubu.
Both Atiku and Obi have rejected the Tribunal’s decision and declared their intent to pursue legal remedies at the Supreme Court.
