Tinubu’s counsel, Olanipekun defends electoral victory in final written address to tribunal
The counsel to President Bola Tinubu and Vice-President Kashim Shettima, Wole Olanipekun, SAN, has asked the Presidential Election Petition Court to dismiss the petition of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, and his party.
Olanipekun branded the challengers’ arguments and witness testimonies as “frivolous, bogus, and based on hearsay” in his final written speech in response to Obi and LP’s appeal.
In his written presentation, he asked the court to dismiss the petition because it lacked merit, substance, and legitimacy.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria also argued that the “remote” contention of the petitioners that his client’s election should be cancelled for not scoring 25 percent or one-quarter of the votes recorded in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is not backed by any fact known to the law as the use of “and” in the constitution is conjunctive and not disjunctive.
The address reads in part: “This case clearly cries to high heavens in vain to be fed with relevant and admissible evidence.
“The appellant woefully failed to realise that judges do not act like the oracles of life, which is often engaged in crystal gazing and thereafter would proclaim a new oba in succession to a deceased oba.
“Judges cannot perform miracles in the handling of civil claims, and at least of all manufacture evidence for the purpose of assisting a plaintiff win his case.”
See the court documents below:
