‘It Is A Jamboree’ – Tinubu Asks Supreme Court To Dismiss Peter Obi’s Appeal

President Bola Tinubu has asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the appeal filed by the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (PDP), Peter Obi.

Tinubu, who was the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 election, said this in a response filed by his lead counsel, Wole Olanipekun (SAN), on Saturday, to Obi’s notice of appeal.

Recall that the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, in its judgment on September 6, dismissed the petition filed by Obi challenging the outcome of the February 25 presidential election.

According to the tribunal, the former Governor of Anambra State failed to prove all the averments in his petition, stressing that his petition lacked merit and was dismissed.

However, the LP flagbearer filed an appeal before the Supreme Court on September 18 and asked the apex court to set aside the entire findings and conclusions of the tribunal.

In response to the appeal filed by Obi, President Tinubu told the apex court that the petition of the LP candidate was nothing but a jamboree which was prosecuted more in the media than in the courtroom.

The President said the petition lacked merit, substance, and good faith and should be thrown out because it was a waste of time.

He said, “The entire petition was nothing but a jamboree of sorts, which was prosecuted more in the media than in the courtroom and the lower court, being a court of law and not of sentiments, dutifully threw away their petition after a painstaking consideration of same.

“Unlike previous election petitions over which the Supreme Court had presided and made far-reaching pronouncements on diverse issues, including but not limited to ballot box snatching, vote buying, voters’ intimidation, interference by the military, thuggery, ballot stuffing, violence, disenfranchisement, non-recording of votes in form EC8A, which is the building block or the base of the pyramid, and such other electoral vices, this appeal arising from a dismissed petition, the main grouse of which is that, while the presidential election was peacefully conducted all over the country, and results of elections carefully and accurately recorded in the various form EC8As, some unidentified and unspecified results, even in the appellants’ brief were not uploaded electronically to the IREV portal.

“However, the lower court, appreciating that it is not a court of final instance, proceeded to determine the petition on its merit, while itemising several monumental failures of the petitioners to provide any evidence in support of their much-touted case.

“While affirming the election and declaration of the 2nd respondent at the referenced presidential election, the lower court also found that the appellants did not prove any of their allegations on the requisite standards of proof.”