He said one of the petitioners’ complaint in their petition, saying that Tinubu was not qualified to contest the election is “nonsensical”.
The presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the 2023 elections, Adewole Adebayo, has said that all the presidential candidates challenging the victory of Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) also committed a lot of irregularities during the February 25 presidential election.
Adebayo who said this in an exclusive interview with Vanguard noted that the candidates also committed all the errors they are complaining about. He added that in their petitions at the tribunal, they cannot point to the winner of the election as the cause of those things.
He said one of the petitioners’ complaint in their petition, saying that Tinubu was not qualified to contest the election is “nonsensical”.
According to him, the petitioners cannot say that because the results were not uploaded on the result viewing portal of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), it was Tinubu that stopped them from uploading them.
Adebayo further said that the petitioners’ argument on the 25% of two-thirds in the 36 states of the federation and the 25% Abuja factor is just a 'comical relief', saying that though something good might come out of the petitions, he is very sure that all the petitions filed to challenge Tinubu’s victory will be dismissed.
The SDP presidential candidate said, “The participants in the election including those who are complaining now, which is their right to do, did a lot of irregularities.
“Whatever they complained about now, they also did it. In their petitions at the tribunal, they cannot point to the winner of the election as the cause of those things. I don’t have to have animosity against the winner. It's like a vehicle having 18 people in it, it crashed, the driver died, you were injured and some other people got out unscathed and you are now blaming those who came out alive as the cause of the crash.
“You cannot say because the result was not uploaded and so it is this particular candidate that stopped them from uploading it. And one other complaint in their petitions that the person was not qualified to contest, as a lawyer, it is nonsensical.
“You cannot say in law that somebody who is qualified to contest is not qualified to contest. I don’t have a problem understanding what 25% of 2/3rd means in Nigeria. I am not a dunce.
“That is just a comical relief. I don’t do things for show. The area I have genuine complaint is the area of bribery of voters. That, I think, is very bad. And in the area of the INEC staff helping to change results in some places, that is also very bad. If you look at it, it is not as if the person that won did it more than others. If you look at the legal limit of finance for campaigns, they all exceeded it.
“Only three or four of the 17/18 losers are in court. But, you never can tell, something good might come out of it. But I can guarantee, all the petitions filed will be dismissed. When you go to court, you should present to the court something that makes sense because the court is looking for a criminal conviction.”
Speaking further on why he said that all the petitions will be dismissed by the court, Adebayo said, “I know the law, that I know can’t be taken from me. I know election practice. I have done it. You can go check the Law Report. A judge, unlike most people think, isn’t aware of the popularity of your candidate. What the court is aware of is that INEC as an election management institution is asked to implement the Electoral Act and the Constitution.
“You have to come out and show to the court that INEC violated the Electoral Act and the Constitution in a way that, substantially, not little, it violated the Electoral Act and Constitution. You can tell the court that the election is not valid at all on the grounds that it was full of malpractices. If it is not valid, the court can set it aside to go and do it again.
“You can also tell the court that it validly conducted (the election) but failed in mathematics in terms of what number is awarded to each of the candidates. You cannot say the election was not valid and at the same time say you got more votes than the others.
“Again, it is not every error that you see that would matter to the court. If they go to 1,000 polling units and kill 1, 000 people and still brought results from the PUs such that the INEC Chair could be fired and even prosecuted but the court will not set the election aside because the court acts according to the law which says substantial compliance which, if it is so, the entire results would have been contaminated.
“If a ship carrying 176 passengers sinks and one person dies, will you say the captain should not sail again? If 176 students write an exam and one fails, will you say the teacher failed? Can that issue in the election affect the outcome of the entire result? That is the issue.”