By Halimah Olamide
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima on Wednesday tendered evidence to support the claim that the candidate of the Labour Party in the last election Mr. Peter Obi is not a registered member of the party.
Tinubu and Shettima submitted a copy of the Labour Party membership register for Anambra State before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT).
The president and his vice opened their defence in the petition filed by Obi and the Labour Party where he has challenged their declaration as winners of the February 25 poll.
They said that Obi who they claim was not a party member during the last presidential poll was ineligible to contest the election under the LP.
During the defence proceedings at the Tribunal sitting at a court in Abuja, their legal representative, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), presented the membership register along with a letter from the Labour Party, dated April 25, 2022, which was addressed to the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as supporting documents.
Tinubu and Shettima claimed that Obi purportedly resigned from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on May 26, 2022 only to join the Labour Party on May 27, 2022.
According to them, the LP held its Presidential Primary election on May 30, 2022 where Obi emerged as the candidate for the general election.
The counsel for Tinubu and Shettima argued that according to Section 77(3) of the Electoral Act, they were obligated to submit their comprehensive register of members to INEC 30 days before their presidential primary.
This implies that the register should have been submitted to INEC on or before April 30, 2022.
They claim that as of April 30, 2022, Obi was still a member of the PDP, and his name was not included in the register of members submitted by the LP to INEC.
In defense, Obi’s counsel argues that he was indeed a member of the PDP when he contested the presidential election under LP.
Although objections were raised by the petitioners’ lawyer, Livy Uzoukwu (SAN), the court admitted the documents as Exhibits RA17 and RA18.
Recall that on Tuesday, the five-man panel of the Tribunal had fixed Wednesday after INEC which conducted the disputed poll closed its case.
This came as the court admitted as exhibit, educational documents of Tinubu from the Chicago State University.
The documents which were tendered to establish his attendance and graduation included the admission letter offered Tinubu.
Through his lead counsel, Olanipekun, Tinubu also tendered his United States visa documents.
Tinubu also made available to the court documents of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), with a view to debunking allegations of criminality contained in the petition against him.