On Friday, September 8, Morris Monye, a senior member of the Labour Party (LP), said that Peter Obi skipped the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal (PEPT) because he was “already looking beyond the PEPT.”
On September 6, the tribunal decided against Obi, the LP’s nominee for president in the 2023 election. The Nigerian presidential election of Bola Tinubu was upheld by the court.
On September 7, Obi announced at a press conference in Onitsha, Anambra state, that he had instructed his attorneys to challenge the tribunal’s decision.
On Tuesday, September 5, a day before the tribunal judgement, Monye tweeted that all eyes should be on the Supreme Court — and not the tribunal.
The member of the defunct Obi-Yusuf Datti Campaign Council quoted the X post and wrote:
“I tweeted this a day before the PEPT. This was PO’s (referring to Obi) position already. That’s why he didn’t show up. But people didn’t understand. Let’s keep faith.”
In a piece of related news, the PEPT dismissed the cases of the opposition parties because there were serious gaps in their petitions.
It would be recalled that Obi, Atiku Abubakar (Peoples Democratic Party), and Chichi Ojei (Allied Peoples Movement) failed to displace President Bola Tinubu via the tribunal.
Daily Trust reported on Thursday, September 7, that the court said the opposition candidates’ cases were devoid of merit.
Livy Uzoukwu, Obi’s lawyer, warned that in cases when those who are dissatisfied with the outcome of elections continue to find it difficult to establish their case, they may resort to controversial channels of getting justice. Uzoukwu said the means “may not be lawful”.
Speaking after the tribunal’s judgment was delivered on Wednesday, September 6, the senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN) vowed to appeal the verdict that upheld the election of Tinubu.