The All Progressive Congress (APC) has requested that the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal dismiss the petition filed by Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), on several grounds, including the court’s jurisdiction being incompetent.
The APC claims that Obi was not a legitimate member of the Labour Party at the time of the election and therefore not qualified to contest the election.
The APC stated that Obi had been a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) until May 24, 2022, when he was screened as the party’s presidential aspirant in April 2023.
According to the APC, Obi participated in the PDP’s screening exercise and was cleared to contest the presidential election as an aspirant.
The Labour Party conducted its presidential primary on May 30, 2022, and allegedly produced Obi as its candidate, a time that contravened Section 77(3) of the Electoral Act, which prevented him from contesting the primary election as an LP member.
The APC also argued that the Labour Party did not submit a comprehensive register of members to INEC as mandated by Section 77(3) of the Electoral Act, and as of April 30, 2022, Peter Obi was still a member of the PDP and could not have been in the register of members submitted by the Labour Party to INEC.
Obi and the Labour Party are challenging the victory of President-elect, Bola Tinubu of the APC in the February 25 election on the grounds of alleged non-qualification and non-compliance, among others.