A Senior Advocate Of Nigeria and Human Rights Lawyer, Femi Falana has alleged that the lawyers of the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi has an upper hand heading into the court.
The Senior Advocate stated that what the Court will be looking at is the evidence presented by the petitioners and the veracity of such evidence. He cited the fact that INEC, on their own hand, has also admitted that some of the electoral officers have breached the conduct of the electoral commission.
The Legal Eagle argued that the Court is empowered to prosecute any INEC officials that are found guilty of inflating figures in the last election. He also identified that this substantial evidence being submitted in court could also lead to the annulment of the election that produced Bola Tinubu as president-elect. According to him, the submission that will be made by the court will be strictly based on the evidence presented by the petitioners against the outcome of the February 25th election.
He said, ”INEC has made a point that there were challenges with respect to the deployment of technology and the conduct of electoral officers. INEC had promised Nigerians that the electoral officers who abused their offices would be brought to book. I would like to say that Peter Obi lawyers can invoke the provision of the Electoral Act to tackle INEC.
“The same goes for other petitioners. Because the court and the tribunal are empowered to recommend the prosecution of those who are proved to have manipulated the elections, to have inflated figures, and betrayed the confidence of the electorate. If such evidence is presented, the court is empowered by the law to recommend the prosecution of anybody who is indicted.”
Credit: PressExpress