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Norrison Quakers, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, gave his review of the 2023 Presidential Election Petition Court’s judgement of Wednesday.
The fourteen-hour-long proceeding concluded with the court validating Bola Tinubu’s status as Nigeria’s president.
The appellants, presidential candidates of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, have indicated their dissatisfaction with the decisions and intend to appeal to the Supreme Court.
In an ARISE NEWS interview on Friday, Quakers noted that the tribunal’s findings did not surprise him since the incidents were not novel in the realms of politics and law. He also indicated that, despite his support for the court’s judgement, the aggrieved parties maintain their right to go to court and recommended them to save “watertight” evidence if they want to make a case.
“You don’t go to court if you do not have a watertight pleading. You must ensure that your pleadings are really tight. This means your facts and your law must be rock solid before you get to court and know what you’re going to get out the court way.
“Quite frankly, the judgement is unassailable as far as I’m concerned. Perhaps there are things that counsel to the petitioners have seen that we haven’t. The aspect of going on appeal, it is indeed a constitutional right that belongs to anyone who feels aggrieved.
“The appellant should have produced credible evidence to sway the court to rule in his favour. Having not done so, there’s no amount of sentiments or emotions that will determine the judgement.”
The lawyer went further to state that the cases had already been litigated before being brought to court thus the need for more credible evidence.
“There’s nothing new that this tribunal has pronounced upon. All of these issues have been litigated in one way or the other in a number of cases.”
He continued, “There are so many cases in that regard. The question is why would you take that step when the law is very clear.
“Once a decision is very clear on the face of it, you have to ask yourself this question, ‘Why am I going on appeal? What will I achieve if I go on appeal?’
“As you proceed to court, you should have front-loaded all your documents and the things you are going to rely on. You must present a credible case to sway the court in your favour. The challenge we have now is, in the light of what we have seen in the court, is there any other thing the supreme court would do to reverse the judgement? All we can do is just wait and see.”
Glamour Adah
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