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From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
Labour Party’s (LP) 2023 Presidential election candidate, Mr Peter Obi says he believes he can still get justice in court even after President-elect, Bola Tinubu is sworn in as President on May 29.
Pre-trials at the Presidential Election Tribunal ended on Tuesday. The trial proper have been slated to begin on Tuesday 30th May, 2023, while
petitioners have been given three weeks to present their case as opposed to seven weeks they asked for beginning from 30th May to 23 June.
Proceedings are expected to drag till end of August, 2023.
Speaking through his Spokeperson, Diran Onifade, in a phone interview with DailySun on Tuesday,
Obi maintained confidence in the tribunal and cited multiple incidences were people were recalled after being sworn into office.
According to him, “Ngige was governor of Anambra State for three years, when his election was found to be faulty, he was removed. Only of recent, Emeka Ehedioha in Imo was asked to vacate for Hope Uzordinma and on and on. So it’s not a big deal. That’s not how system works. Even though some people think that someone will use executive powers to curtail the court and all. There are separation of powers in our system.
“When you go to court, you expect to get justice in court and I have been citing examples of people who got justice in the Nigerian court system. We can’t just write them off. As for we, we trust them (the court) because our constitution doesn’t give us an option.”
The former Anambra State governor also debunked statements by the Apapa Lamidi-led faction of the party that his chances were threatened at the tribunal due to failure to provide 1.5 fee to obtain necessary documents needed as evidence in court from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
He said: “They are suspended. They are out of the system so they don’t know what is going on in the system. All this crap that they are talking about does not make sense. They don’t have the right information as to what is going on in the party. We are not owing INEC for anything. The court has asked INEC to give us documents. Our lawyers have complied. We have applied. Whatever us meant to be paid, has been paid but they don’t know because they are suspended. They are not part of the party at this point in time. In which party event have you seen them? They are only hopping from TV studio to TV studio. And claiming who they are not. Our party people that have now been elected, are they in touch with them? They using sabotage to even deny these people of the mandate that elected them. This is what they are busy doing. They are outsiders.
“It is INEC that is owing us documents that court said they should give us. We are not owing them any money.”
On what the party is doing to actually ensure victory in court he noted that, “You cannot do anything extra than just take your case to the court, State your case, bring your evidences, bring your witnesses and do the right thing which is what we have been doing.”
