The Labour Party (LP) said the membership register presented by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu when they closed their case in the petition filed by its candidate Mr. Peter Obi, purporting that Obi was not a member of the LP as stipulated by the Electoral guidelines, is empty and inconsequential.
The party in a statement by head of Obi-Datti media office Diran Onifade, said the Court of Appeal has already settled the matter.
The LP stated that the Appeal Court, in an appeal filed by the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) against the judgement of the lower court, dismissed the case for lack of merit.
It noted that the judgement was delivered on February 8, 2023 by a team of three justices made up of the President Justice Monica Bolna’an Dongban-Mensem, Justice Ugochukwu Anthony Ogakwu, and Danlami Zama Senchi.
“The justices affirmed the decision of the Abuja High Court that had earlier dismissed the case saying that ‘the lower Court cannot be faulted, the appeal is devoid of merit, the same fails and it is deserving of dismissal,'” the LP said in the statement.
The APM, according to the party, had filed petition seeking to disqualify Peter Obi, from participating in the February 25 presidential election on the ground that the period of his defection to contest the presidential election violated sections 77(2) and (3) of the Electoral Act, 2022.
“They also adduced that before Obi’s defection, the LP already sent a list of its registered members to the INEC.
“They then claimed that Obi lacked the right to be recognised as the LP flag bearer because his name was not on the list of the party members that were submitted to INEC,” the LP recalled.
It noted that the judgement of the Appeal Court was unanimous, and urged its supporters and members of the public not to worry about the submission of the APC and Tinubu.
