“The APC Candidate was at the time of the election not qualified to contest for election to the office of President as he was fined the sum of $460,000.00 for an offence involving dishonesty, namely narcotics trafficking imposed by the United States District Court”
Mr. Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the February 25 elections, and his Labour Party has urged the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) to found that Mr Bola Tinubu, the candidate of the All-Progressives Congress (APC), was, at the time of the election, not qualified to contest the election.
In a petition filed Tuesday at the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), Mr Obi told the court that the election of Tinubu was invalid by reason of corrupt practices or non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 by INEC.
The Petitioners further plead that the APC Candidate was at the time of the election not qualified to contest for election to the office of President as he was fined the sum of $460,000.00 (Four-Hundred and Sixty Thousand United States Dollars) for an offence involving dishonesty, namely narcotics trafficking imposed by the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, in Case No: 93C 4483 between:
In the Decree of Forfeiture, Judge John A. Nordberg in that said Case No: 93C 4483 ordered on October 4, l.993 on page 3 as follows:
On Wednesday, March 1, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) President-elect.
Tinubu polled a total of 8,794,726 votes to defeat his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rival, Atiku Abubakar, who polled 6,984,520 votes while Peter Obi of the Labour Party, secured 6,101,533 votes, and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria People’s Party trailed with 1,496,687 votes.
But the PDP and the LP have rejected the outcome of the election and headed to court to challenge Tinubu’s victory. The duo stated that due to the manifest non-compliance by INEC with the Electoral Act and specific requirements of the Regulations for the conduct of the Presidential election, by the INEC failing, refusing, and neglecting to instantly transmit and upload the result of that election electronically to the iRev from the BVAS, INEC violated the integrity and safety measures entrenched for the conduct of the said election.
However, with regards to Tinubu’s drug case, Obi and the Labour Party stated that the above US Court Orders were made pursuant to paragraph 5 of the “Stipulations and Compromise Settlement of Claims to the Funds held by Heritage Bank and Citibank” filed by the parties, which stated as follows:
Mr Obi and the Labour Labour Party provided certified copies of the following documents to the election court, namely:
a) Verified Complaint for Forfeiture, submitted by Michael J. Shepard (United States Attorney) and signed by Marsha A. McClellan (Assistant United States Attorney);
b) Stipulations and Compromise Settlement of Claims to the Funds held by Heritage Bank and Citibank; and
c) Decree of Forfeiture as to Funds held by First Heritage Bank, signed by United States District Judge, John A. Nordberg.
They contend that by reason of the said disqualification of Bola Tinubu, the votes purportedly recorded for him in the election were/are wasted and invalid; and that Obi who from the correct result of the election obtained the highest number of lawful votes cast in the election and met the constitutional requirements to be declared and returned as the winner of the election, ought to be declared as the winner of the Presidential election held on the 25th February 2023.
No date has been fixed for the hearing at the Presidential Elections Court.
