What Happened at the PEPT on June 19, 2023, Day 15

The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) is a special court that hears and decides petitions challenging the outcome of the presidential election in Nigeria.

iexclusivenews reports that the tribunal is currently hearing the case filed by the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, HE Peter Obi, against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.

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The LP and Obi are alleging that the election held on February 23, 2023 was marred by irregularities, fraud, and violence, and that INEC manipulated the results in favor of Tinubu and APC. They are seeking to nullify the election and declare Obi as the rightful winner.

In this blog post, we will give you a brief summary of what happened at the tribunal on Monday, June 19, 2023, which was the 15th day of hearing.

Proceedings began at about 2:30 pm

HE Peter Obi represented the petitioners; Dr Livy Uzoukwu (SAN) led the counsel team while proceedings were handled by PIN Anechebe SAN & JS Okutepa SAN.

Witness for the day 15: PW7

The petitioners called up their seventh witness (PW7), but the respondents said they won’t cross-examine her because her witness statement on oath (WSOO) was served to them just this morning.

The court agreed for examination in chief to be done today but cross examination by respondents done tomorrow.

The witness resume:

The witness is a female cloud engineer & architect with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and her subpoena was tendered in evidence, opposed by respondents, admitted by court & tagged with an exhibit number.

Her witness statement on oath (WSOO) in which she referred to her résumé and employment verification were tendered. First, second & third respondents all objected to the résumé but did not object to the employment verification. Fourth respondent objected to both.

The document was admitted by court, tagged and given an exhibit number.

The witness in her witness statement on oath (WSOO) made reference to 33 reports showing the health status of Amazon Web Services’ cloud in six regions where Amazon hosts services as well as certificate of compliance.

All respondents opposed to the reports but the court admitted & tagged them with exhibit numbers.

Complaints about INEC’s non-compliance

JS Okutepa brought to the notice of court the continuous refusal of INEC to obey court orders despite all efforts being made. He added that only a few local government areas (LGAs) in Lagos & Gombe states have been received.

Dr Livy Uzoukwu also brought to the notice of the court the dishonesty of INEC in producing requested documents.

He went on to appeal for cooperation between counsels for the interest of the profession. The court stated that their interest is to be fair & deliver justice.

All respondents agreed to meet & cooperate with the petitioners.

Proceedings ended at about 4:30 pm and was adjourned till Tuesday 20th June 2023 by 2 pm

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Source: @PearlssTV / @MissPearls