Ace journalist, Fisayo Soyombo has said that appealing the tribunal judgement which affirmed President Bola Tinubu’s victory in the February 25 election is a “waste of everyone’s time”.
On Wednesday, a five-man panel of justices led by Justice Haruna Tsammani said the petitions filed by Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) challenging Tinubu’s victory were “all devoid of merit” and dismissed them.
In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, LP rejected the verdict and vowed to challenge it at the Supreme Court.
The PDP also rejected the verdict through a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, and vowed to appeal.
But in a Thursday post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Soyombo said appealing to the apex court would be a waste of time.
He said that the task of proving electoral infractions capable of overturning a presidential election were too herculean and the allotted time for it too short.
He said, “The next candidate attempting to displace the ruling party from government must start preparing their 2027 election petition TODAY – not tomorrow, not after the 2027 elections.”
The award-winning journalist added, “Logically and legally, it is impossible for any presidential candidate to prove results-altering electoral malpractice within 180 days. NOT POSSIBLE in Nigeria.
“In law, he who alleges must prove. The candidate/party must prove not only the malpractice, but also that it was of such a scale capable of invalidating the result announced by INEC.
“The 2023 presidential elections were held in 176,606 polling units. To prove malpractice in court, a candidate needs witnesses in thousands of these units. Not just eyewitnesses, but witnesses who provide EVIDENCE of their claims. Not just provide them, but provide them PROMPTLY and in a MANNER that the court can find convincing. These things sound basic; but if you’ve ever sued anyone regarding a serious matter and your lawyer let you into the amount of work that went into writing the brief, and you multiply that work by hundreds of thousands of polling units, you’ll realise that no magic can make anyone defeat any Nigerian president at the PEPT. And, don’t forget, the petition must be filed within 21 days. There’s no miracle that can result in the preparation of a victorious petition within 21 days.”
He said that to stand a chance, opposition candidates have to start planning how to document and expose rigging, pre-election.
“Free advice: find undercover agents, set them up with powerful cams, send them out on election day. They don’t even need to get close to the polling booths.
“They need not argue with anyone or physically engage any ballot box snatcher or thug. From afar, they capture all they need. Again, this is not as straightforward as it sounds. Years of work have to be invested in recruiting the hands, speedy collation and sorting of filming, and so on.
“But to start all this work after the election and expect to have solid grounds for filing within 21 days, no assemblage of lawyers can pull it off in Nigeria.
“Lawyers will not tell you this, but appealing the PEPT’s judgement at the Supreme Court is a waste of everyone’s time. For 2027, anyone who wants to ‘dine with the devil’ MUST show up with a long spoon.”