By Nicholas Ojo
An evidence has been tendered before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal by President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima to prove that Peter Obi is not a qualified member of the Labour Party.
President-elect, Bola Tinubu, had challenged the right of the Labour Party’s candidate, Peter Obi, to fault his victory at the February 25 presidential election.
In his response to the petition by Obi and the Labour Party, he argued that the former Anambra State government was not a lawful member of the LP as of the time he contested on the party’s platform, and lacks the locus standi to challenge the outcome of the exercise.
He queried the competence of Obi’s petition and prayed the court to dismiss it.
His team of lawyers led by Wole Olanikpekun added that as of 24th May 2022, six days before the primary election of the Labour Party purportedly held to produce/elect Obi as the presidential candidate of the party for the presidential election held on 25th February 2023, Obi was still a card-carrying member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and he did not resign his membership of the said party until 24th May 2022.
They added that as of 30 days before Labour Party’s presidential primary, Obi was still a presidential aspirant in the PDP.
However, the counsel for the Tinubu and Shettima on Wednesday submitted to the tribunal a copy of the LP membership register for Anambra State, which they said will prove that Obi is not a registered member of the party, The Nation reports.
Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), their counsel, presented the document, as well as LP’s letter dated April 25, 2022, delivering the membership record to the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The documents were presented alongside other materials at the start of Tinubu and Shettima’s defence in the petition filed by Obi and the LP before the tribunal.
The documents were admitted as evidence despite an objection raised by the counsel for the petitioners, Livy Uzoukwu (SAN).
They were subsequently marked as Exhibits RA17 and RA18.
Leave a Reply