Presidential Poll: You’re biased, Peter Obi replies INEC

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Mr Peter Obi, yesterday accused the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, of bias, insisting that it ought to maintain neutrality in electoral contests among candidates.

Obi, in a reply he filed before the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, faulted the electoral body for filing a preliminary objection in support of the President-elect and candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

He noted that both the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal had in the past, cautioned INEC not to place itself “in a position where imputation of partiality in favour of one party against one will be levelled against it.”

The commission had in response prayed to the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal, PEPT, to dismiss the petition filed by LP and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, saying the reliefs sought were not grantable.

The electoral body contended that Tinubu and Senator Kashim Shettima, who were the APC presidential and vice presidential candidates were duly declared and returned as elected and issued Certificates of Return having fulfilled the requirements of the constitution to be so declared.

INEC is the 1st respondent in the petition filed before the tribunal by Obi, the 1st petitioner, and LP, the 2nd petitioner. They had dragged INEC, Tinubu, Shettima and the APC to the court as 1st to 4th respondents respectively.

In its reply filed by its lawyer, Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN, the INEC prayed the court to either “dismiss or strike out the petition for being grossly incompetent, abusive, vague, nebulous, generic, general, non-specific, ambiguous, equivocal, hypothetical and academic.”

‘INEC ought to be neutral’

Faulting INEC, Obi, who came third in the February 25 presidential election, recalled that the apex court had in the case of Attorney General of the Federation V. Abubakar (2007) 10 NWLR (Pto 1041), emphasized that the electoral commission must not only embrace neutrality as its watchword but “must always remain fair and focused.”

He said: “The 1st Respondent, forgetting its role as an electoral umpire, gave a Notice of Preliminary Objection to challenge the alleged incompetence of the Petition.

“The global best practice for electoral umpires in national elections is that an electoral body must avoid creating the impression that it has no respect for neutrality in an electoral contest between candidates.

“The appellate courts have repeatedly admonished the 1st Respondent of its need to remain neutral in election proceedings. However, the 1st Respondent hereof has remained impervious to change.

‘INEC adorned garb of a contestant in poll’

“Therefore, it is not only an embarrassment but a repudiation of the duty of the 1st Respondent when it adorns the garb of a contestant in an election it conducted as an umpire to raise preliminary objection against an Election Petition as in the case hereof.

“The expectation is that INEC will maintain a neutral stance in all litigations where participants in elections are challenging the outcome of the elections and not indulge in filing objections to the petition.

“The petitioners will before or at the Pre-Hearing Session or at the hearing of the petition, urge the Honourable Court to strike out and or to dismiss the 1st Respondent’s Notice of Preliminary Objection.”

Besides, Obi described as “misconceived”, INEC’s preliminary objection against the petition he lodged against the declaration of Tinubu as the winner of the presidential election.

“The 1st Respondent’s contention that the reliefs sought in the Petition are not grantable is false and made in manifest disregard for the specific and concise pleadings in the Petition.

“The pleading in the 1st Respondent’s Notice of Preliminary Objection that the allegation in paragraph 20(ii) of the Petition is defective and does not disclose a cause of action, is wishful thinking”.

Obi further contended that Tinubu was not elected by a majority of lawful votes cast at the election, adding that the Appeal Court, which will sit as the tribunal for the presidential election dispute, has the requisite jurisdiction to entertain and determine the real issues in the petition.

“The petitioners further aver that the necessary parties as required by law for the determination of the instant Petition are before the Honourable Court.

“The Honourable Court has the requisite jurisdiction to entertain and determine the real issues in this Petition”.
Furthermore, Obi contended that Tinubu’s running mate and Vice President-elect, Kashim Shettima, was not validly nominated to contest the presidential election.

“As at 14th July, 2022 when the 3rd Respondent was nominated as the Vice Presidential candidate of the 4th Respondent, the 3rd Respondent was still the Senatorial candidate of the 4th Respondent for the Borno Central Senatorial District, his name not having been withdrawn by the 4th

Respondent as stipulated by Section 33 of the Electoral Act, 2022, “Borno Central Senatorial District is a Constituency for the purpose of a Senatorial election. Likewise, the entire Federation is a Constituency for election for the office of President and Vice President.

“Until there is a valid substitution of a candidate by a political party, the status quo remains and therefore the submission of the 3rd Respondent’s Form EC 9 as Vice-Presidential Candidate of the 4th Respondent did not automatically abrogate his subsisting nomination as senatorial candidate for the Senatorial election for Borno Central Senatorial District. The Petitioners’ case is not founded on Section 285(14) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended)”, he argued.

Obi told the court that though LP had agents that were positioned at various polling units during the conduct of the election, he said INEC, unfortunately “failed and neglected to give clear copies of the result of the election in the polling units (Forms EC 8A) to the Petitioners’ Agents, as the pink copies given to the Petitioners Agents were very faint and unreadable”.

“In reply to the new issue raised in paragraphs 26 and 27 of the 1st Respondent’s Reply, the Petitioners aver that the actual votes obtained at the polling units as shown in the Report incorporated/pleaded in the Petition, show that the Petitioners won a majority of the lawful vote cast at the election, and met the constitutional requirement to be returned/declared as the winner of the election.

“In further answer to the said allegation by the 1st Respondent, the Petitioners aver that the actual result of the election shows that the 2nd Respondent neither won the highest number of lawful votes cast in the election nor met the constitutional requirement, including securing the 1/4 of the votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, to be entitled to be returned/declared as the winner of the Presidential Election.