If we’re not careful, our electoral jurisprudence will disappear and litigants take to self help – Peter Obi

Mr. Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in Nigeria has vowed to appeal the judgement of the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, that upheld the election of President Bola Tinubu.

ValidViewNetwork had earlier reported that the petition of Mr Obi was dismissed by the court. Speaking after the dismissal of the petition, he warned that if care was not taken, sound electoral jurisprudence will disappear in the country.

He stressed that litigants that are dissatisfied with the outcome of an election, may resort to self help, if they continue to find it very difficult to establish their case owing to obstacles from government institutions like the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

Speaking through his team of lawyers led by Dr. Livy Uzoukwu, SAN, Obi, said: “If we are not careful, our electoral jurisprudence will eventually disappear. I am saying this with every amount of sincerity because when the litigant, when those that contested election continue to find it very difficult to establish their case due to obstacles on the way, starting by INEC, certainly they may resort to some other means of trying to get justice, which may not be lawful.

“Also, I commend the Court of Appeal for introducing live streaming. You may recall that we applied to the court to have live streaming of all the proceedings, the court, in its wisdom did not grant the application.

“But now, in the end, they saw wisdom in it and the need to guarantee transparency, hence, live streaming of the judgement.

“Certainly, it would have been better if it was live streaming of the entire proceedings so that the public will have the chance of watching and be able to relate properly with the judgement.

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“So, I will hope and pray that this time, it will be continuous, starting from the beginning of a case.

“That is the only way that you can guarantee transparency because when something is open, Nigerians will see things for themselves and they will make up their minds, one way or the other,” he added.