On Wednesday, President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima testified before the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) in the continuing petition filed by Peter Obi and the Labour Party (LP). Their legal team provided a copy of the Anambra State Labour Party membership registration, as well as a letter from the LP, to substantiate their assertion that Peter Obi is not a registered member of the party.
Tinubu and Shettima argued in response to Obi’s petition and the LP’s charges that Obi was not qualified to run in the last presidential election on the LP’s platform since he was not a member of the party at the time. The documents were handed to the court by Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), representing the defence, at the start of their defence.
The LP’s letter, dated April 25, 2022, accompanied the membership register and was addressed to the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The defence team sought to demonstrate that Obi’s claims of LP membership were unfounded.
Although Livy Uzoukwu (SAN), the lawyer representing Obi and the LP, objected to the admission of the documents as evidence, the court overruled the objection and admitted the documents. They were marked as Exhibits RA17 and RA18, becoming crucial pieces of evidence in the ongoing legal proceedings.