As exhibits in a petition filed challenging the election of President Bola Tinubu, the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja on Tuesday accepted paperwork for the collation of presidential election results in 17 states.
The documents known as Forms EC8B were submitted by the petitioners, Mr. Peter Obi, the Labour Party, LP’s candidate for president in the February 25 presidential election.
The petition by Obi and the LP was filed against INEC, the electoral umpire, and President Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC. It is designated as CA/PEPC/03/2023.
Through a member of his legal team named Mr. Ben Anichebe, SAN, Obi and his party submitted the Forms EC8B from the 17 states they were contesting at the petition’s resumed hearing.
The results come from 21 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Adamawa, eight LGAs in Bayelsa, 23 LGAs in Benue, 21 LGAs in Kogi, 11 LGAs in Nasarawa State, and 25 LGAs in Niger.
Other states include Kaduna State (21 LGAs), Delta (25 LGAs), Ekiti (11 LGAs), Ondo State (18 LGAs), Sokoto State (21 LGAs), and Imo (25 LGAs).
Oyo State has 27 LGAs, Cross River has 18, Edo has 15 LGAs, Akwa Ibom has 31 LGAs, and Lagos State has 20 LGAs.
All of the respondent’s legal counsel raised objections to the petitioners’ submission of the Forms EC8B.
They are Mr. Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), who represents the APC, Mr. Kemi Pinhero (SAN), who represents INEC, and Mr. Wole Olanipakun (SAN), who represents Tinubu and Alhaji Shettima.
They informed the court that they will save their justifications for opposing the presentation of the forms until their closing arguments.
However, the court accepted every document the petitioners submitted as part of their schedule of documents and designated them as exhibits.
The petition’s further hearing was postponed until Wednesday by the five-person panel, which was presided over by Justice Haruna Tsammani.
