Post falsely claims Nigerian presidential candidate Peter Obi handed win by election tribunal
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on July 24, 2023 at 12:22
- 4 min read
- By Fikayo OWOEYE, AFP Nigeria
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“Peter Obi has been declared d winner by d tribunal (sic),” reads a Facebook post published on July 18, 2023, and shared with more than 360 times.
The account behind the post regularly shares content in support of Obi.
The first part of the four-minute-long video shows a man narrating in pidgin English -- a simplified form of English widely spoken in Nigeria -- alongside pictures of Tinubu, Obi, and Orji Okpe, a TV presenter on local station Arise Television.
The narrator claims the election tribunal in Abuja ruled in favour of Obi, adding: "Mr. Jagaban don dey threaten Nigeria about chaos (sic)."
Tinubu, who was sworn in as president on May 29, 2023, is often called "Jagaban" by his party supporters. His election victory is being challenged by Obi, Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party and the Allied People Movement.
The video switches briefly to Tinubu and a clip showing him receiving his election certificate from the Nigerian election commission and talking about the court challenges, suggesting chaos would ensue if the results were overturned.
But the claim that the election court has declared Obi as the winner is false.
No judgment yet
The last update on proceedings was on July 14, 2023, when the Court of Appeal said it had reserved judgment in a petition brought by the Allied People Movement (archive here).
PREPEC 2023: Has Reserved Judgement on the Petition brought before it by APM challenging the outcome of the 2023 Elections.
— Court of Appeal, Nigeria (CoA) (@NGCourtofAppeal) July 14, 2023
Counsel to the Petitioner tendered and adopted their final written addresses and reports by all the parties and urged the Court to grant their Petition.
Days earlier, it had tweeted confirmation (archived here) that both Obi and Tinubu had closed their cases after all evidence had been presented and witnesses' testimonies completed. The last instruction from the court to the legal teams was for the submission of final written arguments, after which judgment would follow.
5th July, 2023
— Court of Appeal, Nigeria (CoA) (@NGCourtofAppeal) July 6, 2023
PREPEC 2023: Tinubu &APC closed their case in the petition by Obi &LP by tendering several documents before the Court
Among documents tendered is LP’s membership register in Anambra& 3rd Respondent’s voluntary withdrawal of candidacy from Borno Senatorial election
Similarly, the petition (archived here) filed by Abubakar is also pending judgment after arguments were wrapped up on July 5, 2023. Again, the lawyers representing Abubakar and Tinubu were asked to submit their final written statements within 10 days.
5th July, 2023
— Court of Appeal, Nigeria (CoA) (@NGCourtofAppeal) July 6, 2023
PREPEC 2023: Tinubu has closed his defense against the petition filed by Atiku & PDP
Counsel to the Respondent tendered CTC of documents, amongst which are forms EC8D and EC8DA from Kano State.
Admisibility of the documents were objected to by the Petitioners.
The deadlines for all the parties to submit their closing arguments have passed. However, there has been no confirmation of when any of the matters will resume, and the judgments delivered.
Meanwhile, Tinubu continues to perform his role as president. On July 18, 2023, he met with presidents of Benin, Niger, Guinea Bissau, and the ECOWAS Commission President (archived here). He also issued a congratulatory message to Muslims on the Islamic New Year on July 19, 2023 (archived here)
The appeal court (archived here) is the first stage in the presidential election disputes and parties not satisfied with the ruling of the lower court can appeal to the Supreme Court which has the final say.
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