Obi plans PEPC judgment appeal, warns sound electoral jurisprudence may disappear from Nigeria
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) plans to appeal to the Supreme Court the verdict of the Presidential Electoral Petition Court (PEPC) which retained Bola Tinubu as President despite several alleged electoral and criminal breaches.
Obi’s lead counsel Livy Uzoukwu, SAN made the disclosure in Abuja, warning if care is not taken, sound electoral jurisprudence will disappear in Nigeria.
He also warned litigants dissatisfied with the outcome of an election may resort to self-help if they continue to find it very difficult to establish their case because of obstacles created by government institutions like the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
His words: “If we are not careful, our electoral jurisprudence will eventually disappear. I am saying this with every amount of sincerity because when the litigant, when those that contested election continue to find it very difficult to establish their case due to obstacles in the way, starting by INEC, certainly they may resort to some other means of trying to get justice, which may not be lawful.”
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Live broadcast commended
“Also, I commend the Court of Appeal for introducing live streaming. You may recall that we applied to the court to have live streaming of all the proceedings, the court, in its wisdom did not grant the application,” Uzoukwu added, per Vanguard.
“But now, in the end, they saw wisdom in it and the need to guarantee transparency, hence, live streaming of the judgment.
“Certainly, it would have been better if it was live streaming of the entire proceedings so that the public will have the chance of watching and be able to relate properly with the judgement.
“So, I will hope and pray that this time, it will be continuous, starting from the beginning of a case.
“That is the only way that you can guarantee transparency because when something is open, Nigerians will see things for themselves and they will make up their minds, one way or another.”