• Obi: INEC refused to provide 70% of electoral documents
• INEC: Obi, LP refused to pay N1.5m fees for exhibits certification
• They pounced on me, removed my cap, Apapa recounts mob attack at tribunal
• It’s abuse of court, Tinubu opposes live broadcast of tribunal proceedings
• Tinubu’s position against live transmission an indictment on judiciary, says Kila 
 
Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, yesterday, told the resumed sitting of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) at the Court of Appeal in Abuja, of his predicament in accessing electoral documents from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
 
Obi, who came third in the February 25 presidential election, is challenging the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate, Bola Tinubu. He alleged that INEC manipulated the presidential election in favour of Tinubu.
 
Yesterday, Obi’s lawyer, Livy Uzoukwu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), informed the five-member panel of the court led by Haruna Tsammani that INEC “stubbornly refused to produce 70 per cent of the electoral documents that were requested by LP.”
 
Specifically, Uzoukwu said electoral documents concerning the polls in Rivers and Sokoto states have been inaccessible from INEC. “A typical example is that of Rivers, where the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner boldly told us they do not have any form EC8 to give us,” Uzoukwu said.
 
The lawyer recalled two previous rulings of the court, directing INEC to grant access to the Labour Party for the inspection of electoral documents like the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) machines that were deployed for the conduct of the presidential poll.
 
But INEC’s lawyer, Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN), expressed the electoral umpire’s readiness to cooperate with all parties in the petitions and the court. He said Obi’s legal team declined to attend a meeting that was called to streamline issues around documents to be tendered before the court.
 
“We agreed to meet on Monday and Tuesday (May 15 and 16). But on Monday, I received a call that the LP legal team had not turned up at the venue for the inspection of the documents,” Mahmoud told the court. He added that LP and Obi have refused to pay the N1.5 million demanded to access documents they are requesting, which is the standard procedure and fees charged for certified copy.
 
Speaking in the same vein, APC’s lead lawyer, Lateef Fagbemi, a SAN, aligned with INEC’s position concerning access to electoral documents. Fagbemi said he would not object to official documents tendered from INEC during the hearing of the substantive petition.
 
Similarly, Tinubu’s lawyer, Wole Olanipekun, said he had no issues accessing documents from the electoral umpire. “We will reserve our objection to documents until the end of the trial,” Olanipekun said.
 
After listening to all parties in the petition, the court adjourned proceedings until May 19. The panel’s chairman, Tsammani, asked lawyers in the suit to respond to all pending applications before the next adjourned date.  Tsammani said the pre-hearing session would last 14 days from the day of its commencement. The court began its pre-hearing session on May 8.

MEANWHILE, there was commotion yesterday at the resumed sitting of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) sitting at the Court of Appeal in Abuja when the acclaimed National Chairman of LP, Lamidi Apapa, was mobbed by factional members of the party loyal to Obi, at the court premises.
 
It took the efforts of about 50 policemen before Apapa could be rescued from being lynched by the factional members who conducted themselves in unruly manners. Apapa, who was dressed in white agbada to the court, was jerked several times by the attackers and was immediately taken to custody by the police upon his rescue.
 
The factional members believed to be loyal to the suspended National Chairman of the party, Julius Abure, held their victim hostage for almost one hour while attempting to come out of the court after the day’s proceedings to address newsmen who were on standby to get his reaction to the leadership dispute in the party.
 
The LP supporters believe associates of the President-elect, Tinubu, to frustrate Obi’s petition, are sponsoring Apapa. The group, chanting unprintable words against Apapa prevented him from addressing newsmen.
 
Apapa said he was nearly killed by the mob while he was leaving the Court of Appeal, Abuja, after the PEPC adjourned pre-hearing in Obi’s petition. At the resumed session, Apapa had attempted to occupy the seat reserved for Abure — the national chairman recognised by Obi’s faction — but was resisted by party chieftains.

 
Addressing journalists after the incident, Apapa insisted that the suspension of the embattled LP National Chairman, Abure, by an FCT High Court paved way for him to function in that capacity.
 
According to Apapa, the seat reserved for LP’s national chairman ought to have been occupied by him, adding that it was wrong for the Director-General of Obi campaign organization, Akin Osuntokun, to occupy it.
 
“I went to him (Osuntokun) and inquired to know in what capacity he was sitting on the seat. I told him that since I am in court today, I am the right person to sit on that chair,” he narrated.
 
On how he was attacked, Apapa said: “They pounced on me, removed my cap and I am very sure that if not that you people (journalists) were there, I would have been dead by now.
 
“As you can see, I have recovered my cap. But as for the person that removed my cap, he will suffer till the end of his life. I saw him. He is a young chap, but he will never grow old,” he added.
 
On allegations that he was paid N500 million to distract Obi’s team from their legal challenge of Tinubu’s victory, Apapa said: “I have never taken any kobo from anybody and I have challenged anyone that has any evidence to bring it forward”.
 
He further tasked Obi to wade into the dispute objectively with a view to amicably resolve the lingering crisis in the party. According to him, what happened at the court in the presence of Obi, was disgraceful and a test of Obi’s leadership quality.
 
He also said it was wrong of Obi to have claimed not knowing him, adding that he worked closely and even travelled in the same flight with him throughout his electioneering campaign. He, therefore, appealed to Obi to be open minded, neutral, and objective so as to be able to stop the crisis.

IN another development, the President-elect has opposed the application by his closest rival, Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for a live broadcast of the proceedings of the election petition.
 
In response to the application, Tinubu and his vice, Kashim Shettima, through the team of their lawyers, led by Wole Olanipekun, said the application is an “abuse of the processes of this honourable court.”
 
They implored the court to dismiss the application, arguing that the relief demanded by the applicants is not such that the court could grant it. They further said the request of Atiku and his party should be thrown out because the court “is not a rostrum or a soapbox. It is not also a stadium or theatre. It is not an arena for ‘public’ entertainment.”
 
They stated, in the counter affidavit, that the application was linked to policy formulation of the court, which is outside the PEPC’s jurisdiction as constituted.

AN international Director of Studies at the European Centre of Advanced and Professional Studies, Prof. Anthony Kila, yesterday, disagreed with Tinubu that the ongoing electoral court proceedings and petitions before the tribunal, particularly the presidential contest, should not be given live coverage.
 
The Jean Monnet professor of Strategy and Development, particularly, faulted Tinubu’s position that the court “is not a rostrum or a soapbox. It is not also a stadium or theatre. It is not an arena for ‘public’ entertainment, is a serious indictment on the judiciary.

 
The interpretation is that the Nigerian Bar and Bench cannot coordinate itself.  According to him, “I don’t think Tinubu’s position is right. I disagree completely with him over his call not to allow live transmission of the proceedings. There is nothing to hide The Bar and the Bench has the duty to do that and as well coordinate itself when doing it. He (Tinubu) cannot say the Bar and Bench is not disciplined enough to coordinate itself during live transmission, which I am convinced would give more credibility to the proceedings.”
 
Recall that Kila had earlier called on President Muhammadu Buhari; the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami; and the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Olukayode Ariwoola, to ensure that all electoral court proceedings and petitions before the Election Petition Tribunal, particularly the presidential contest, are made public by way of media coverage.
 
The university don said the need to make the court cases regarding the election open, transparent and clear bordered on the fact that the 2023 presidential election held on February 25, was the most contentious in the history of Nigeria.
 
He said any mistake to hide the proceedings of the court cases from those questioning the processes of the polls with the belief that it was deliberately tailored to favour a particular candidate and those who believed a winner truly emerged, would not give the needed credibility to the incoming government.