The Presidential Election Petition, PEPT, has affirmed the victory of President Bola Tinubu in the last general election, dismissing the petition filed by the Labour Party candidate, Mr. Peter Obi.
Not satisfied with the court’s verdict, Peter Obi has vowed to challenge it at the Supreme Court. He expressed concern that the electoral justice system in the country was being eroded by the interference of government agencies like the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
He warned that if the situation was not addressed, aggrieved candidates might lose faith in the judicial process and resort to other means to seek redress.
Speaking through his team of lawyers led by Dr. Livy Uzoukwu, SAN, Obi, said: “If we are not careful, our electoral jurisprudence will eventually disappear. I am saying this with every amount of sincerity because when the litigant, when those that contested the election continue to find it very difficult to establish their case due to obstacles on the way, starting by INEC, certainly they may resort to some other means of trying to get justice, which may not be lawful.
“Also, I commend the Court of Appeal for introducing live streaming. You may recall that we applied to the court to have live streaming of all the proceedings, the court, in its wisdom did not grant the application.
“But now, in the end, they saw wisdom in it and the need to guarantee transparency, hence, live streaming of the judgement.
“Certainly, it would have been better if it was live streaming of the entire proceedings so that the public will have the chance of watching and be able to relate properly with the judgement.
“So, I will hope and pray that this time, it will be continuous, starting from the beginning of a case.
“That is the only way that you can guarantee transparency because when something is open, Nigerians will see things for themselves and they will make up their minds, one way or the other,” he added.
