The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi has accused the president, Bola Tinubu of trying to cannibalize our democracy.
In his final written address to the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, Tinubu admitted his failure to score 25 per cent of votes cast in Nigeria’s capital Abuja, but said it was insufficient to overturn his victory as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
“Any other interpretation different from this will lead to absurdity, chaos, anarchy and alteration of the very intention of the legislature,” Mr Tinubu’s lawyers led by Wole Olanipekun said in their final defence statement to the court.
Similarly, Olanipekun said that faulting the election of Tinubu due to the failure to Transmit the election results by the INEC is an invitation to anarchy.
“Our submission is that the Petitioners are inviting anarchy by their ventilation of this issue of non-transmission of results electronically, by INEC.”
But Obi’s lawyer in his response to the written address by the President said: “The 2nd-3rd Respondents Tinubu and Shettima) went too low and abandoned discretion,” by their claim above.
Click to download Peter Obi’s complete response to Tinubu and Shettima
Peter Obi’s lawyers led by Dr. Livy Uzoukwu, maintained that the statement by Tinubu’s lawyers “is a cheap, misguided, and destructive blackmail clearly intended to target the country’s judicialism and constitutionalism. It also aims at cannibalizing our democracy.”
Uzoukwu added that should Peter Obi and his Labour Party follow the footsteps of Tinubu and Shettima, it will lead to insecurity but they will never do that.
“It will also raise the issue of insecurity if the Petitioners emulate the bad example of the 2nd-3rd Respondents. However, that will never happen.
“When has it become offensive for Petitioners to canvass a ground prescribed for the challenge of an election in section 134(1)(b) of the Electoral Act 2022?
“Desperation taken too far can be extremely dangerous. Let the 2nd-3rd Respondents know that where the rule of law is trampled upon or truncated, anarchy reigns supreme!
Click to download Peter Obi’s complete response to Tinubu and Shettima
