The Nigerian elections court has ruled that LP failed to provide information regarding their real scores prior to the alleged reductions and the specific polling places where they occurred.
According to the court, LP was required to disclose both the particular polling locations where the claimed reductions took place as well as their actual scores before the purported reductions.
“Pleading must set out material facts and particulars. In the instant petition, there was no effort to prove specific allegations, particulars of complaints,” the Tribunal ruled on Wednesday September 6, 2023, in Abuja. The elections petition court assered that the law is clear that where someone alleges irregularities in a particular polling unit, such person must prove the particular irregularities in that polling unit before that petition can succeed. The petitioners failed to identify the specific voting places where the election was allegedly rigged, and they failed to provide information about the polling places where purported complainants of irregularities are located, according to the Tribunal.
“It was only in one instance that figures were given of alleged suppressed votes and we all know that elections are about figures,” it argued.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was accused by the opposition party (LP) of reducing its votes and adding them to those of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
However, the court ruled that LP had failed to provide details regarding their real results prior to the alleged reductions, as well as the polling places where they took place.
