The Labour Party (LP) has asked the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to quickly explain how the imprint of the Tinubu Presidential Legal Team (TPLT) appeared as header on the Certified True Copies (CTC) of the recent judgment by the PEPC.
The LP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, which said “Nigerians are curious about such happenstance that has inevitably generated storm and controversy,” dismissed as “misconceived and empty” an “unsigned and undated statement issued purportedly by a senior counsel on behalf of the Tinubu Legal Team” which “claimed that the header is a watermark!”
The party insisted that the TPLT counsel’s claim that what is on the CTC is a watermark and not a header is false: “It is not and can never be. Typically, a watermark is a faint imprint or design made on some papers during production and which can be seen when held up to the light. It helps in checking the genuineness of the paper.”
Pointing out that the TPLT senior counsel who made the claim “is responsible for substantiating his claims and should not pass the buck to innocent parties,” the LP noted that contrary to the counsel’s claim, “the counsel who collected the judgment on behalf of our party and our candidate did so long after a representative of Tinubu Legal Team.”
The LP explained that they were “very disturbed by the delay in releasing the judgment expeditiously, only to be confronted with this befuddlement. The public is equally at pains trying to comprehend what is happening.
“The onus of explaining and dousing the unfolding controversy rests on the PEPC and the TPLT, the imprint owners. Clearly, the header is not a watermark. We note that only some of the petitioners received the same version.
“In a highly contentious case with dire national interest and implications, confirming that the PEPC did not confer any advantage, rights, or privileges to any party is imperative. This development must be cleared up quickly to avoid conjectures and the belief that something untoward happened. This cannot be the case of another glitch.”
The party, therefore, called “on the PEPC and APC to come clean on the CTC imprint and disclose whose imprimatur is inscribed on the entire judgment. Nigerians deserve the right to know and are demanding urgent answers.”
