‘You Are Barred From Raising This Issue Again’

The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) on Wednesday ruled that the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi can’t raise an issue on the alleged non-compliance of the 2023 election with the provisions of the 2022 Electoral Act.

The alleged non-compliance of the 2023 presidential election with the Electoral Act was one of the grounds for the petition filed by Peter Obi and his party against the declaration of President Bola Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 polls by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Obi had cited INEC’s failure to electronically transmit the results of the election.

However, responding to the petition during Wednesday’s judgment, the lead Judge of the five-man Tribunal panel, Justice Haruna Tsammani ruled that Mr Obi is “estopped” (prohibited) from raising the issue again after it was resolved by the Federal High Court.

Speaking further, Tsammani held that the only technological device that is mandatory for INEC to use for the election is the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS).

He emphasized that there is nothing in the regulation to show that the BVAS must electronically transmit polling unit results, adding that both Electoral Act and INEC regulations provide for manual collation of results, and electronic transmission is at best optional.

In a similar development, the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) has ruled that the FCT does not enjoy special privileges ahead of other states.

Naija News reports that this was made known by Justice Haruna Tsammani, who took over to deliver judgment on the substantive petition filed by Obi and LP on Wednesday.

According to Justice Tsammani, the FCT is not more important than other states in the country.