By Edith Nwapi / June 20, 2023
Abuja
Some documents requested by the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) at the 2023 election, Mr Peter Obi to be presented as exhibits at the Presidential Election Tribunal are non-existent.
INEC made the declaration before the court sitting in Abuja on Tuesday.
Obi and the Labour Party (LP) are challenging the Feb. 25 election of President Bola Tinubu before the court in a petition marked CA/PEPC/03/2023.
Respondents in the petition are INEC, President Tinubu, Vice-President Kashim Shettima and their All Progressives Congress (APC).
Giving evidence before the court, Mr Lawrence Bayode, Deputy Director, ICT at INEC told the court that out of the five documents Obi asked for; two were non-existent, while one was work in progress.
One of Obi’s witnesses, Ms Loretta Ogah, an ICT cloud engineer, said she contested election into the House of Representatives on the platform of Labour Party in Cross River, but lost the election.
Ogah was cross-examined by Mr Wole Olanipakun (SAN), counsel for Tinubu and Shettima.
She told the court that she sued INEC after her loss because the electoral umpire did not list her name on its portal as a result of network failure.
Also cross-examined by Mr Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), counsel for APC, Ogah told the court that glitches did not occur on INEC portal on Feb. 25.
She said she did not know INEC’s password protocol as she was not INEC’s employee.
The court, presided over by Justice Haruna Tsammani, adjourned further hearing to Wednesday. (NAN)