Kenneth Okonkwo, a Labour Party chieftain, stated on his verified Facebook page after Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar lost to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja,
“The PEPC judgement is inherently contradictory and illogical and if allowed to stand will destroy every achievement the Electoral Act,2022, was designed to achieve.” This decision would return us to the pre-1999 election era, when manual collation was the bane of our elections.”
He added; “Those who publicly stated that BVAS will destroy our democracy are now trying to destroy the BVAS using this judgement. This judgement does not appreciate the intendment of the Legislature for the technological advancement of our elections and appears bent on destroying it”
He stated further; “This judgement is an analogue judgement applied to a technologically advanced Electoral Act 2022. To rule that civil forfeiture is not a fine as contemplated by the Constitution is to overule the decision of the Chief Justice of Nigeria.”
He noted; “A court which cited the preamble of the Constitution to explain away scoring 25% in FCT, couldn’t use the preamble of the Electoral Act to explain the clear intention of the lawmakers regarding the electronic transmission of results. I disagree with this judgement in its entirety”
