The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, on Monday tendered election results from six states at the Presidential Election Petition Court.
Mr. Obi, who came third in the February presidential election, is claiming Nigeria’s presidency as the winner of the 25 February election.
Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is similarly challenging the victory of President Bola Tinubu of the All-Progressives Congress (APC) in the election.
Mr. Tinubu was sworn in on 29 May as Nigeria’s 16th Nigerian leader, although the suits filed by Mr. Obi and Atiku to challenge his victory continue in court.
Mr. Obi and Atiku predicated their petitions on the premise that the election was marred by widespread irregularities ranging from non-compliance with the electoral laws to alleged manipulation of results favoring Mr. Tinubu.
At the resumption of proceedings on Monday, Mr. Obi’s lawyers – Ben Anichebe and Valerie Azinge – tendered result sheets from seven states of Nigeria.
The states are Ebonyi, Nasarawa, Kaduna, Imo, Ondo, Sokoto and Kogi.
The court admitted the results as exhibits.
But Mr. Tinubu’s lawyer, Wole Olanipekun and APC’s lawyer, Lateef Fagbemi, objected to the admissibility of the results.
The legal team of the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), also opposed the admissibility of the electoral documents.
The lawyers reserved their objections to Mr. Obi’s tendering of the documents until the close of arguments in the case.
After admitting the documents as exhibits, the panel headed by Haruna Tsammani adjourned the suit until 6 June to continue the hearing.
Last week, Mr. Obi tendered electoral documents comprising result sheets from 12 states of the federation.
Despite winning the presidential election in Lagos, Nasarawa, Delta, Ebonyi, Imo and other states, Mr. Obi argued that votes accruing to him were significantly suppressed in favour of Mr. Tinubu.
Also, in aid of his case, the Labour Party candidate has called one witness.
He had indicated his intention to call 50 witnesses and tender tons of electoral documents to substantiate his claims of rampant fraud during the presidential election on 25 February.
Mr. Obi has three weeks to prove his case against INEC, Mr. Tinubu, and the APC respondents in the suit.
