The Chief Spokesman for the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council (APC PCC), Festus Keyamo, has said the petition filed by the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, before the Election Tribunal, is a waste of time.
Recall that the ruling party and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Monday, in their separate responses, asked the tribunal to dismiss the petition filed by Obi for lack of merit.
APC, in its response filed at the PEPC secretariat in Abuja by Thomas Ojo, a member of the party’s legal team, led by Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), faulted Obi’s petition on many grounds.
Among APC’s grounds for challenging the competence of the petition are that Obi was not a valid member of the LP at the time of the election and he participated in PDP’s screening exercise and was cleared to contest the presidential election as an aspirant.
In a tweet via his verified Twitter handle on Tuesday, Keyamo stated that the petition filed by Obi and the LP is thin on facts and a carry-on of the propaganda that defined the Obi presidential ambition.
The Minister of State for Labour and Employment said the petition repeated the blustering and posturing Obi maintained in his media outburst after the election results were announced.
Keyamo said Obi promised to demonstrate that he won the election but the same was stolen from him by INEC, but in his petition, he admits that he could not have won unless the Courts cancels the entire votes cast in all the Polling Units in 14 States and conduct a review on votes cast in 3 other states.
He said Obi picked no issues with Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who came second and he failed to provide particulars of where he scored votes to challenge the margin of lead of both Atiku and Tinubu.
He wrote: “APC has now responded with Objection to Petition & Reply to Petitions filed by AA, APP, APM & LP. The frivolities put together as Petitions have been laid bare….
“The other 3 Petitions did not seek a return. Only LP did, albeit, on shaky grounds. Aside from the fact that the LP Petition is thin on facts, it is a carryon of the propaganda that defined the Obi presidential ambition. All the blustering and posturing he maintained in his media outburst after the election results were announced are not repeated in his Petition. You have to wonder why???
“He said he would demonstrate that he won the election but the same was stolen from him by INEC. Whereas in his Petition he admits that he could not have won unless the Courts cancels the entire votes cast in all the Polling Units in 14 States and conducts a surgery on votes cast in 3 other states. That surgery will not yield enough votes to eliminate Atiku’s lead over Obi, let alone scratch the gulf between him and Asiwaju. So it’s a bridge to nowhere!
“What is more? He picked no issues with Atiku who came second and he failed to provide particulars of where he scored votes to challenge the margin of lead of both Atiku and the President-Elect. In law, you can only prove by way of evidence what you plead.”
Keyamo said the Obi petition talked about the unrelated matters of the Chicago drug case claiming this is a ground for disqualification, saying that the petition is just a distraction.
He added: “The LP Petition interestingly took a detour into unrelated matters of the Chicago case claiming this is a ground for disqualification. Well, again, this must have been introduced merely to excite their toxic fan base who need twisted versions of reality as oxygen.
“The case in Chicago was a civil matter brought under Title 28 § 1345 and 1355 which both relate to the civil jurisdiction of District Courts in America with respect to civil cases brought by the US government or its agency or its officers. Note; CIVIL JURISDICTION.
“Therefore, can a criminal conviction be made by a Court in a matter where only its civil jurisdiction was invoked??? It is like paying Jaguar for sedan and asking him to deliver an SUV to you!!! No be witch be that?
“To invoke the criminal jurisdiction of a Court, there are procedures. To invoke its civil jurisdiction, there are separate procedures!! But this is the circus LP has sent its supporters on!!! There are so many points on the watery nature of this ground but let’s just make it simple for all to follow.”
Keyamo also slammed the LP flagbearer for including the issue of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and the claim that Vice -President, Kashim Shettima, was not properly nominated, in his petition.
“On the issue of FCT, that is a matter of interpretation and we are convinced that LP’s proposition will work manifest absurdity and create “Preferred Votes” for FCT residents which has no basis in law and electoral jurisprudence. There is no example of such anywhere in the world where a section of the population of a country has golden votes to make or break a presidential candidate. So we are confident in our response to defeat LP’s proposition.
“The other side to this issue is that LP benefits nothing from it should the Court even (most unlikely) agree with them on this ground alone. It will rather spark a runoff between 1st and 2nd and nothing more because this is not a disqualifying element.
“Finally, LP says Shettima was not properly nominated. Section 31 of the Electoral Act 2022 settles that question. The Vice President-Elect withdrew from his Senatorial nomination in compliance with this Section and that settled it.
“In all, LP threatened an earthquake and we ended up with less than a slight land tremor or nothing at all!. By the way, at least 2 of their lawyers are extremely known for their good work in Election Petitions. If LP had a better case, they would have presented it. They just don’t have one!!
“The fact that they are clutching at straws to make a coherent credible case in Court is the reason why we must ignore their empty grandstanding in the media space. It’s all nothing but hot air!
“By the way, was Obi even a proper candidate? Was he a member of LP in the eyes of the Electoral Act 2022? That’s the mountain we gave Obi and his team to climb. I doubt they will survive it”
