Just In: Tribunal rejects APC's appeal to Obi's membership in LP

The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in Abuja has rejected the APC's challenge to Peter Obi's membership in the LP.

Justice Abba Mohammed, who read the ruling, stated that political party membership is an internal matter.

While highlighting a claim by the respondents that Obi's petition only alleged pervasive irregularities without providing specifics and polling units, this section highlights that claim.

In a presidential election held in 176,866 polling units across 774 Local Government Areas, according to Justice Mohammed, it would be inappropriate not to specify where irregularities occurred.

According to him, the petitioners only made generic allegations.

"Pleadings must contain material facts and specifics. "In this petition, no effort was made to prove specific allegations or complaints," stated the Tribunal.

The law is clear that, in order for a petition alleging irregularities in a particular polling unit to be successful, the petitioner must establish the specific irregularities in that polling unit.

The court stated that the petitioners did not demonstrate the specific polling unit where the election did not take place, nor did they specify the polling units where alleged irregularities were reported.

"Only in one instance were alleged suppressed votes quantified, and we all know that elections are about numbers," it stated.

"LP alleged that INEC reduced their scores and added them to APC votes, but failed to provide specifics of what they actually scored prior to the alleged reductions, nor did they provide the polling units where the alleged violations took place."