Peter Obi isn’t a registered member of the Labour Party (LP), according to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima, who have provided documentation to back up their assertion.
A copy of the Anambra State Labour Party membership registration was sent to Tinubu and Shettima on Wednesday as proof before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT).
The appeal filed by Obi and the Labour Party contesting their declaration as the victors of the February 25 presidential election was answered by the president and his vice.
They claimed that Obi was unqualified to run for office under the LP since he reportedly wasn’t a party member during the previous presidential election.
Their legal representative, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), presented the membership register and a letter from the Labour Party, dated April 25, 2022, addressed to the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as supporting documents during the defence proceedings at the Tribunal at a court in Abuja.
According to Tinubu and Shettima, Obi allegedly left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on May 26, 2022, only to join the Labour Party the following day, on May 27.
They claim that on May 30, 2022, the LP had its presidential primary election, with Obi winning the right to run in the main election.
According to Section 77(3) of the Electoral Act, Tinubu and Shettima’s legal team claimed that they were required to give INEC their complete list of members 30 days before to their presidential primary.
This suggests that the register need to have been delivered to INEC by April 30, 2022, or earlier.
They assert that on April 30, 2022, Obi was still a PDP member and that his name was not on the list of members that the LP gave to INEC.
When Obi ran for president under the LP banner, his attorney claims that he was in fact a PDP member.
Despite Livy Uzoukwu (SAN), the attorney for the petitioners, raising concerns, the court accepted the documents as Exhibits RA17 and RA18.
Remember that the Tribunal’s five-person panel set Wednesday as the hearing date after INEC, the organisation in charge of the contested election, closed its case on Tuesday.
This occurred as the court acknowledged Tinubu’s transcripts from Chicago State University as an exhibit. The admittance letter Tinubu presented was one of the documents submitted to prove his attendance and graduation.
Tinubu also submitted the necessary paperwork for his US visa through his principal attorney, Olanipekun.
Additionally, Tinubu provided the court with documentation from the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) in an effort to refute accusations of criminal activity made in the petition against him.
