Presidential election: Don’t cancel our victory over 25 percent in FCT – Tinubu, Shettima urge tribunal

• Counsel urged court to dismiss the petition because it totally lacked merit and substance
• Counsel says argument not constitutional

President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima, have urged the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal not to nullify the February 25 presidential poll.

Tinubu and Shettima said the tribunal should not cancel the presidential election over the controversy surrounding the 25 percent in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.

This was as they urged the tribunal to dismiss the petition of the Labour Party, LP, and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi. Their appeal was contained in a final address by their lead counsel, Wole Olanipekun.

In the address, Olanipekun described the arguments and testimonies of witnesses presented by the challengers as “frivolous, bogus and based on hearsay.”

He urged the court to dismiss the petition because it totally lacked merit and substance.

He stressed that the “remote” contention of the petitioners that Tinubu and Shettima’s election should be cancelled for not scoring 25 percent or one-quarter of the votes recorded in the FCT was not backed by any fact known to the law as the use of “and” in the constitution is conjunctive and not disjunctive.

“The appellant woefully failed to realise that judges do not act like the oracles of life, which is often engaged in crystal gazing and thereafter would proclaim a new Oba in succession to a deceased Oba.

“Judges cannot perform miracles in the handling of civil claims, and at least of all manufacture evidence for the purpose of assisting a plaintiff win his case,” he said.

Similarly, the Association for Political Stability in Northeast (APS) has called on Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) to withdraw their petitions at the Presidential Election Tribunal challenging the victory of President Bola Tinubu at the February 25 presidential election.

The Coordinator of the association, Haruna Garba at the weekend in Bauchi argued that it is in the overriding national interest for Atiku and Obi to pull out their petitions against Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC).

He said that the withdrawal of their petitions will bring political stability, growth and development and prosperity for the country.

He commended members of the association for the supportive roles they played that culminated to the Tinubu/Shettima victory at the polls in the Northeast zone.

Coordinator Garba admonished the Tinubu/Shettima presidency to ensure the realization of the gas and oil find in Barambu axit of Bauchi/Gombe, planned refinery in the Bauchi/Jos axis and other infrastructure for the development of the Region.

Garba explained that one of the cardinal objective of his group is to ensure the emergence of youths, women and the physically challenged in political governance.