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Tinubu vs Obi: LP has uphill task before election tribunal – Robert Clark

 

Elder statesman, Robert Clark, has insisted that the Labour
Party (LP) and its Presidential candidate for the 2023 general election, Mr
Peter Obi, have an uphill task before the election tribunal.

 

Clark stated this while speaking during an interview with
Arise TV on Tuesday.

 

He said it would be hard for the LP to prove that there were
election malpractices in Lagos State during the Presidential election.

 

Recall that the All Progressives Congress, APC’s Tinubu won
the 2023 presidential election, beating close rivals, Atiku Abubakar of the
Peoples Democratic Party, and Labour Party’s Obi.

 

Atiku and Obi have since headed to the courts to challenge
the victory of Tinubu.

 

“Let me be honest with you, let’s take for instance, the
Obi, Labour Party. They had filed an election petition based on one- Bola
Tinubu is not eligible to be voted for, two and even if he is eligible to be
voted for, he did not get the two-thirds in Abuja, and even if he got it, the
election was marred with gangsterism and different things.

 

“Those are the three elements that the Labour Party has
brought forward to an election petition. Now let me draw from the pool of my
own experience.

 

“The first one is that he is not eligible because he has
been found guilty, but that is a non-starter. The issue has been settled and it
is a non-starter. So the Labour Party can never make any headway on that
ground. The second ground is that by virtue of the constitution that says to
win an election despite and in spite that you have made the greatest number of
votes, you cannot be declared elected if you don’t have two-thirds in 36 States
and Abuja.

 

“The question to be considered by the Tribunal is what
constitutes two-thirds of the 36 States in Nigeria and Abuja and how do you
construct that word ‘and’ do you take 36 states first and you now take Abuja
and now say that for you to be elected you must have two-third of 36 States and
two-third of the federal capital and that is the view of the Labour Party which
I do not agree with.

 

“Now, look at the scenario they are saying, If Tinubu had
won two-thirds of all the 36 States and failed to win two-thirds of Abuja, then
he cannot be elected. Does that make sense? Does that give any good reason for
democracy to survive?

 

“Now the Supreme Court now says that look Abuja has been
created as one of the 36 States, so it enjoys the status of a state, but the
Supreme Court in one or two other cases would also say in determining whether
Abuja is a state, you should not grant Abuja any privileges once you declared
it as a state.

 

“The constitution itself says all votes cast in an election
in Nigeria are equal, so how do you now add all these three principles that
Abuja cannot have any special status, that all votes cast in Nigeria have equal
states, then why do you want to interpret ‘and’ there to mean that even if I
had 36 states, two-third and I don’t get Abuja, then I cannot be elected, it
doesn’t make sense.

 

“Democracy means polarity of the people, for the people and
for all the people.

 

“Therefore, my own view, which I think is a reasonable view,
but I am subject to other views from my learned colleagues and the Supreme
Court, is that in determining whether Tinubu has made that provision of
two-thirds of the states, it must be the 36 states plus Abuja which is 37
states, so if he has made the polarity of two-third votes in all these states
added together, then he becomes elected.

 

“But as I said, this is subject to interpretation by the
Supreme Court. But I am basing my submission on what the Supreme Court has said
on Abuja, what it has said about votes, and what it has said about the equality
of votes among the states. But I am subject to my opinion being rejected, but
that is my view.

 

“Even if the Labour Party decides that Tinubu has not
qualified by virtue of past precedent, they still have to surmount the
principle that the election was marred with many irregularities.

 

“The law says there is a presumption of regularity attached
to whatever INEC does. The Evident Act in Nigeria gives INEC that privilege.

 

“The Supreme Court is now in a difficult position to look at
all the evidence to be brought by the Labour Party regarding malpractices. Now
the notorious place the Labour Party is holding is Lagos. They are claiming
that in Lagos, they were cheated, and voters were not allowed to vote.

 

“Now when they prove it, they still need to go a step
outside the proving to show how it has affected the election. So they have an
uphill task.

 

“So my own view from my own experience in election matters,
it is an uphill task for them, but you never know. You never know the
circumstances of these malpractices, you never know how many votes were not
allowed to be cast, so I cannot pitch my tent to say that they would not
succeed, but my belief is that they have an uphill task,” Clark, a Senior
Advocate of Nigeria added.

 

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