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Tribunal: Obi failed to show how votes were suppressed or scored majority of lawful votes

The Presidential Election Petitions Court (PEPC) has held that the Labour Pary (LP) and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, failed to show how they scored the majority of lawful votes in the February 25 presidential election.

In the lead judgment read by Justice Abba Bello Mohammed, the court said the political party made generic allegations of irregularities, suppression of votes and corrupt practices to rob them of their votes, especially in Rivers, Benue, Lagos, Taraba, Imo and Osun states but failed to specify the polling units affected.

Justice Mohammed further held that LP also failed to prove the allegations of overvoting against the All Progressives Congress (APC) and their actual reduced votes.

In his petition through lead counsel, Livy Uzoukwu (SAN), Obi contended that the non-upload of results of the election from the BVAS machines to IREV resulted in blurred results from INEC with 18,088 polling unit results and votes cast by 2.55 million voters; he submitted that he was the only candidate with the majority of lawful votes cast and the 25 per cent required in the FCT under Section 134(2) of the Nigerian Constitution

On the blurred results, the court knocked Obi and his political party. The court opined that the party had agents who also signed the results therefore wondered where those agents kept their own result sheets.

The court also refused the claim that votes must be transmitted electronically saying that only the electoral body has the right to determine how it transmits votes after election.

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