Obi provides evidence of Tinubu’s forfeiture of drug money to U.S govt in petition at PET

More details have emerged on the petition filed at the Presidential Election Tribunal (PET) in Abuja, after the Labour Party (LP) candidate, Peter Obi, seemingly made a U-turn as he backed down on his earlier position to lead his challenge by faulting the modality adopted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the conduct of the February 25 election.

Obi, instead led his case with evidence of the forfeiture of the sum of $460, 000 lodged in the account of First Heritage Bank in the United States belonging to the President-elect and candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the February 25 Presidential poll, Bola Tinubu Ahmed.

Obi had earlier dragged INEC before the Federal High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) sitting in Abuja, over the latter’s decision to flout the Electoral Act 2022 by manually uploading election results from the Presidential polls, a move which, the petitioner claimed opened a window for various electoral malpractices across the country as political parties falsified and manipulated the outcome of the February 25 exercise.

However, ruling, Tuesday, in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1454/2022 filed by the Labour Party (LP) and Obi as plaintiffs, with INEC as the only defendant, the court dismissed the suit holding that Section 60(5) of the Electoral Act, 2022 provides for the transfer of election result, including the total number of the accredited voters from the polling unit.

In his judgement, Justice Emeka Nwite further held that it is only INEC that has the prerogative to direct how Polling Unit Presiding Officer should transfer election results, including the total number of accredited voters and results of the ballot.

Before dismissing Obi’s suit, Justice Nwite held that the collating and transferring election results manually in the 2023 general elections is in line with the relevant provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.

“From the argument of the learned plaintiff’s counsel, I am of the humble opinion that the bone of contention or the sections that seeks for interpretation are actually sections 50(2) 60(5) and 62(2) of the Electoral Act, 2922.

“Section 47(2) as cited by the learned counsel to the plaintiff only deals with accreditation of voters using a Smart Card Reader, but not collation or transmission of result as postulated by the learned counsel,” Justice Nwite held.

Continuing, Justice Nwite noted that Section 62(2) of the same Act provides for compilation, maintenance and continuous update of the register of election result as distinct database for all polling units’ results as collated in all elections conducted by the commission.

Obi had also prayed the court to determine the legality of the February 25 exercise following INEC’s disregard to the guidelines which stipulates immediate transmission of the results via the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines in the February 25 polls.

Obi and his legal team, thereafter, headed to the tribunal hours later, same day, after the Tuesday high court ruling to file their petition this time leading with the well-documented case of the President-elect’s misdemeanors in the United States, a trial which numerous courts in the country had previously dismissed in several suits clearing the path for the APC candidate to emerge with the party’s presidential ticket during its primary election in Abuja, last year.

In the petition marked: CA/PEPC/03/2023, Obi’s legal team led by Dr Livy Uzoukwu, challenged the decision by the INEC to declare candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, as winner of the disputed election, as well as, President-elect, Monday, February 27.

Chief Spokesperson for the Labour Party- Presidential Campaign Council (LP- PCC), Dr Yunusa Tanko, who first confirmed the development in a terse statement, Tuesday morning, added that the process by Obi and the party to reclaim their mandate has started.

“It is official the Labor Party Presidential candidate Peter OBI has filed his petition to the presidential elections tribunal in Abuja. The process of reclaiming the people’s mandate has started,” Yunusa said.

The LP-PCC spokesperson did not, however, disclosed Obi’s specific applications in the petition before the PET.

Obi’s prayers before the tribunal included mainly that the President-elect Tinubu and his Vice President-elect Ibrahim Shettima are not fit and qualified to contest the February elections in the first place.

“At the time of the presidential election held on 25 February 2023,” Messrs Tinubu and Shettima were not qualified to contest the election.“

The petitioners equally want the court to hold that the 2nd respondent (Tinubu) having failed to score one-quarter of the votes cast at the Presidential Election in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, was not entitled to be declared and returned as the winner of the presidential election held on 25 February 2023.

Also, the petitioner is seeking “An order cancelling the election and compelling the 1st respondent (INEC) to conduct a fresh election at which the 2nd Respondent (Tinubu), 3rd respondent (Shettima) and 4th respondent (APC) shall not participate.”

Obi further prayed the tribunal to determine that all the votes recorded for Tinubu in the election are wasted votes, owing to the non-qualification of the president-elect and Mr Shettima, as he argued that Tinubu at the time of the election was not qualified to contest the election.

The LP candidate then prayed the tribunal to cancel the February 25 Presidential elections o these grounds and order the conduct of a new one.

The grounds of qualification is based on documents attached to the petition filed by Obi’s legal team which shows that Tinubu did indeed pay off or settle out of court in the course of a drug related offence by paying the sum of $460, 000 to the U.S government which was drawn from his First Heritage Bank account domiciled in Chicago, Ilinois, as ruled by Judge John A. Nordberg on October 4, 1993.

According to the U.S judge, the money ‘represents the proceeds of narcotics trafficking or were involved in financial transactions in violation of 18 USC (United States Constitution) 1956 and 1957.’

The judge further ruled that ‘the money be payable to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and that these funds shall be disposed of according to the law.’

According to political analysts, the level of international exposure the petition has generated might put pressure on the judiciary to apply diligence in the proceedings.

The grounds on which Obi’s case stands which is essentially that of eligibility or otherwise of Tinubu to contest the February 25 Presidential election having been convicted by a competent court of jurisdiction and reaching a settlement out-of-court in order to avoid sentencing by a U.S court, is weighty.

Commenting, a legal practitioner, based in Yenagoa, Bayelsa Sate, who spoke to Oracle Today newspaper, believes Obi’s petition is directly putting the Nigerian legal system on trial and on the spotlight.

“He knew if he started of his petition by focusing on the misconduct of the elections by INEC, he will lose as already shown with the Federal High Court ruling earlier, last Tuesday. He also knows the tribunal will dismiss it on technical grounds. We all saw how Atiku (Abubakar) brought bags of evidence before the presidential election tribunal and Supreme Court in Abuja after the 2019 polls and still lost out to (President Muhammadu) Buhari.

“So, it appears Obi has learnt from that by focusing on the factual proof of evidence, and letting the justices decide, Obi is putting the Nigerian legal system on the spotlight with this case, as far as I’m concerned,” said Barrister Emmanuel Akpoguma.

Interestingly, the petition filed by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) also sought the Presidential election tribunal to annul the February 25 elections, withdraw the Certificate of Return already issued to the APC candidate, Tinubu by INEC, and conduct fresh poll in the country.

Atiku’s petition marked CA/PEPC/05/2023, was filed late Tuesday, March 21.

The United States, European Union (EU) have severally harped on the need for the Federal Government to give the judiciary a free hand to settle concerns raised by stakeholders arising from the February 25 presidential elections without interference.

All eyes are now on the Nigerian judiciary.