A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Robert Clark, says nothing may come out of the appeal of Wednesday’s judgment of the Presidential Election Petitions Court by the petitioners who have vowed to approach the Supreme Court.
“My personal view has been enriched by past experience in the dispensation of justice at the bar,” the 85-year-old legal luminary said on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.
“I have every belief, and I seriously believe that the unanimous judgment of the Court of Appeal is unassailable, it is as fixed as you can fix anything and I can assure you that if there is an appeal, I doubt whether anything can come out of the appeal.”
According to the legal veteran, all the matters, based on law, that were brought before the Tribunal by the petitioners had already been adjudged by the apex court in the country.
Clark aligned with the Tribunal that the petitioners failed to prove their petitions beyond reasonable doubt.
The election petitions court had delivered a 12-hour marathon judgment on Wednesday, throwing out the petitions of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM); the petitions of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its flag bearer, Atiku Abubakar; as well as the petitions of Labour Party (LP) and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
The five-man panel led by Justice Haruna Tsammani not only dismissed the consolidated petitions of the PDP, the APM, and the LP, but it also clearly affirmed the victory of President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the February 25, 2023 presidential poll.
The court ruled that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was at liberty to decide the mode of transmission of election results during the presidential election on February 25, 2023.
The Tribunal also dismissed Obi and LP’s petitions on 25 per cent votes of Tinubu in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), saying that Abuja is like other states.
The court said the Electoral Act 2022 made no provision for electronic transmission of election results.
In addition, the Tribunal ruled that the Labour Party Obi failed to prove that Tinubu was convicted for money laundering in the United States.
The panel ruled that no record of criminal arrest or conviction was established against Tinubu by the petitioners – Obi and the LP.
Both Atiku and Obi have rejected the Tribunal’s verdict and vowed to seek redress at the Supreme Court.