PEPC: $460,000 forfeiture order by US District Court disqualifies Tinubu from challenge, insist Obi, LP
The US District Court's forfeiture order of $460,000 against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu disqualified him from running in the February 25, 2023 presidential election, Labor Party (LP) presidential candidate Mr. Peter Obi and his party insisted.
In a final written statement filed by their attorney, Dr. Livy Uzoukwu (SAN) before the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) sitting in Abuja, the petitioners stated that the forfeiture order against Tinubu by the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Division is in case No. 93C 4483 represents, "Proceeds of Narcotics Trafficking and Money Laundering".
According to the address, "The forfeiture order against the 2nd respondent (Tinubu) was a fine within the meaning of Section 137(1) of the 1999 Constitution for which a person shall not be qualified to be elected to the office of President, if he shall be liable to a fine for any offense of dishonesty or fraud, however called, imposed upon him by any court or tribunal".
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The Petitioners further argued that the virus of statutory and constitutional disqualification of Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima as presidential candidates renders their purported return and declaration as winners of the election invalid, null and void and subject to reversal by the court.
Obi and his party believed that the failure of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to comply with the relevant provisions of the electoral law and subsidiary legislation significantly affected the outcome of the February 25 presidential election.
The petitioners further told PEPC that Tinubu's threats of anarchy in his final speech were "cheap, misguided and destructive blackmail clearly intended to target the country's judicialism and constitutionalism".
They said that Tinubu and Shetimma went too low and gave up their discretion when they asserted that "our argument is that the petitioners are inviting anarchy by venting this problem of non-transmission of results electronically, by INEC.
"This is cheap, misguided and destructive blackmail clearly intended to target the legalism and constitutionalism of the country."
Ozoukwu, in his closing remarks, said that “desperation taken too far can be extremely dangerous. Let the 2nd and 3rd defendants know that where the rule of law is trampled on or truncated, lawlessness reigns supreme.”
Lead Counsel in the address stated that, "In addition to the blatant failure to comply with the mandatory requirements of the law, the certified copies of the election results delivered to the Petitioners by the 1st Defendant (INEC) clearly show that the alleged Forms EC8A at several polling stations, were affected by mutilations, nullifications, alterations and outright exchanges of votes in favor of the 2nd to 4th Defendants against and against the Applicants".
The court's five-member panel of judges, headed by Judge Haruna Tsammani, had at the last sitting given the respondents in the petition 10 days to file their written address, while the petitioners had seven days to respond.
The court issued the order after the parties to the petition, which had INEC, Tinubu, Shettima and the All Progressives Congress (APC) as defendants, closed their cases.
READ ALSO IN NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
Tags: Labor PartyObiPEPCTinubu
The US District Court's forfeiture order of $460,000 against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu disqualified him from running in the February 25, 2023 presidential election, Labor Party (LP) presidential candidate Mr. Peter Obi and his party insisted.
In a final written statement filed by their attorney, Dr. Livy Uzoukwu (SAN) before the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) sitting in Abuja, the petitioners stated that the forfeiture order against Tinubu by the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Division is in case No. 93C 4483 represents, "Proceeds of Narcotics Trafficking and Money Laundering".
According to the address, "The forfeiture order against the 2nd respondent (Tinubu) was a fine within the meaning of Section 137(1) of the 1999 Constitution for which a person shall not be qualified to be elected to the office of President, if he shall be liable to a fine for any offense of dishonesty or fraud, however called, imposed upon him by any court or tribunal".
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The Petitioners further argued that the virus of statutory and constitutional disqualification of Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima as presidential candidates renders their purported return and declaration as winners of the election invalid, null and void and subject to reversal by the court.
Obi and his party believed that the failure of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to comply with the relevant provisions of the electoral law and subsidiary legislation significantly affected the outcome of the February 25 presidential election.
The petitioners further told PEPC that Tinubu's threats of anarchy in his final speech were "cheap, misguided and destructive blackmail clearly intended to target the country's judicialism and constitutionalism".
They said that Tinubu and Shetimma went too low and gave up their discretion when they asserted that "our argument is that the petitioners are inviting anarchy by venting this problem of non-transmission of results electronically, by INEC.
"This is cheap, misguided and destructive blackmail clearly intended to target the legalism and constitutionalism of the country."
Ozoukwu, in his closing remarks, said that “desperation taken too far can be extremely dangerous. Let the 2nd and 3rd defendants know that where the rule of law is trampled on or truncated, lawlessness reigns supreme.”
Lead Counsel in the address stated that, "In addition to the blatant failure to comply with the mandatory requirements of the law, the certified copies of the election results delivered to the Petitioners by the 1st Defendant (INEC) clearly show that the alleged Forms EC8A at several polling stations, were affected by mutilations, nullifications, alterations and outright exchanges of votes in favor of the 2nd to 4th Defendants against and against the Applicants".
The court's five-member panel of judges, headed by Judge Haruna Tsammani, had at the last sitting given the respondents in the petition 10 days to file their written address, while the petitioners had seven days to respond.
The court issued the order after the parties to the petition, which had INEC, Tinubu, Shettima and the All Progressives Congress (APC) as defendants, closed their cases.
READ ALSO IN NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
Tags: Labor PartyObiPEPCTinubu
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