The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, said he is confident in the judiciary. He has confidence that the judiciary will deliver the right judgment concerning the case he presented in court. The case involves a challenge to the results of the presidential election.
On Thursday morning, during Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, Obi specifically stated that he had a huge amount of confidence in the Nigerian judiciary. Further, Obi said Nigeria has one of the finest judiciary systems. Nevertheless, it was the politicians that were trying to corrupt the judiciary.
The case that is before the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal is a result of the election irregularities. The Independent National Electoral Commission failed to upload the results from all the polling units. INEC had earlier promised to upload the results to the IREV (Result Viewing Portal) on election day.
INEC, without uploading results, declared the APC presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as president-elect in the early hours of Wednesday, March 1, 2023. Subsequently, the Labour Party was dissatisfied with the results. They met with the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal to get permission to inspect election materials.
The INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, has promised to provide all documents needed to aid the ongoing suit. He said this while he received lawyers from the Labour Party. Mahmood also said the electoral body has nothing to hide.
Obi’s Words
Peter Obi said in the interview, “I am confident in the judiciary.” I am because I have stayed in court for three years when people said it was impossible for you to become a governor through the court, and I became the first (to reclaim a stolen mandate). Remember, I was impeached, and again the court brought me back. And I went for interpretation, where I said, “My tenure is not complete.” People said it was impossible because somebody else had been elected, but I changed it.
Further, on the matter of trust, he said, “I don’t go anywhere, referring to how others were treated.” “Irrespective of their judgments recently, I have confidence that they know the country is collapsing and they know they have to help build a better place for their children.”