The Presidential Election Petitions Court has ruled that the petition filed by Labour party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, challenging the victory of Bola Tinubu in the February 25, 2023 presidential election, is ‘’unmeritorious”.
Delivering judgement in the petition on Wednesday, September 6, the five-man panel of justices led by Justice Haruna Tsammani, described as ridiculous the argument by the Labour party that Tinubu ought not to be declared winner of the election because he scored less than 25 per cent votes in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and was not duly elected by majority of lawful votes cast.
The tribunal considered the directive of state policy and the preamble of the constitution that provides for the equality of citizens and held that by the provisions of Section 134 (2a) of the constitution, and without any form of equivocation, “scoring 25 percent in the FCT in a presidential election is not mandatory and this issue was also resolved against the petitioner and in favour of the respondent”.
The court subsequently declared LP’s petition clearly unmeritorious.