Election Petition: Court Admits Forms EC8B As Exhibits In Petition Against Tinubu

In a case contesting the election of President Bola Tinubu, the Presidential Election case Court in Abuja reportedly accepted the submission of documents for the collation of presidential election results from 17 states as evidence. []

Mr. Peter Obi, who is running for president in the Labour Party (LP) primary on February 25th, submitted the petition on behalf of his group.

Mr. Obi and the LP produced the exhibits known as Forms EC8B at the hearing of the petition with the file number CA/PEPC/03/2023. The Forms EC8B from the 17 states in question were submitted by the legal team defending Obi and the LP, which is directed by Mr. Ben Anichebe, SAN.

Adamawa, Bayelsa, Benue, Kogi, Nasarawa, Niger, Ondo, Sokoto, Delta, Ekiti, Imo, Kaduna, Oyo, Cross River, Edo, Akwa Ibom, and Lagos are the states where the election results were challenged. Results from multiple local government areas (LGAs) within each state were included on the forms.. []

Representatives of the respondents objected to the petitioners’ submission of the Forms EC8B, including Mr. Kemi Pinhero (SAN) for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mr. Wole Olanipakun (SAN) for President Tinubu and Alhaji Kashim Shettima, and Mr. Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) for the All Progressives Congress (APC). They held off on stating their objections until their closing remarks, though.

Despite the objections, the court accepted all of the petitioners’ schedule of documents and designated all of them as exhibits. Justice Haruna Tsammani presided over the five-member panel, which deferred the petition’s further hearing until the following day, Wednesday.

The petitioners have won a big victory by having the Forms EC8B admitted as exhibits, which might greatly help their case. The forms could be used as proof of fraud or anomalies because they contain the raw data used to calculate the election results.

The respondents have stated that they will argue against the forms’ admissibility at the petition’s final hearing. The petitioners, however, will benefit from the court’s admission of them as exhibits since it could increase their chances of success. []