Obi, Atiku, others file petitions to nullify Tinubu’s victory

•Seek fresh poll as alternative prayer

Legal battle to nullify the victory of the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, kick-started on Tuesday, with four separate petitions lodged before the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, sitting at the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal.

Among those who formally approached the court to challenge the declaration of Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC, as winner of the February 25 presidential election are the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, and that of the Labour Party, LP, Mr. Peter Obi.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had on March 1, announced Tinubu as the winner of the presidential poll, ahead of 17 other candidates that contested the election.

It declared that Tinubu scored a total of 8,794,726 votes to defeat Atiku, who polled 6,984,520 votes and Obi who came third with 6,101,533 votes.

Dissatisfied with the outcome of the election, Atiku and Obi, through their respective team of lawyers, have filed petitions to nullify it.

Specifically, the LP candidate, Obi, in his petition marked: CA/PEPC/03/2023,  prayed the court to declare that Tinubu was not duly elected by majority of the lawful votes cast at the election.

In the petition he hinged on three grounds, Obi insisted that at the time of the election, Tinubu was not qualified to contest; and that as at the time Tinubu’s running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima, became the Vice Presidential candidate, he was still the nominated candidate of the APC for Borno Central Senatorial election. 

Obi and the LP further challenged Tinubu’s eligibility to contest the presidential election, alleging that he was previously fined the sum of $460,000.00 by the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, in Case No: 93C 4483, for an offence involving dishonesty and drug trafficking.

On the ground that the election was invalid by reason of corrupt practices and non- compliance with the provision of Electoral Act, 2022, the petitioners argued that INEC acted in breach of its own Regulations and Guidelines.

The Petitioners contended that the electoral body was in the course of the conduct of the presidential poll, mandatorily required to prescribe and deploy technological devices for the accreditation, verification, continuation and authentication of voters and their particulars as contained in its Regulations. 

Consequently, they prayed the court to not only hold that Tinubu was not qualified to contest the election but to also declare that all the votes recorded for him were wasted votes owing to his non-qualification/disqualification.

“That it be determined that on the basis of the remaining votes (after discountenancing the votes credited to the 2nd Respondent) the 1st Petitioner scored a majority of the lawful votes cast at the election and had not less than 25% of the votes cast in at least 2/3 of the States of the Federation, and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, and satisfied the constitutional requirements to be declared the winner of the 25th February 2023 presidential election.

“That it be determined that the 2nd Respondent having failed to score one-quarter of the votes cast at the presidential election in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, was not entitled to be declared and returned as the winner of the presidential election held on 25th February, 2023.

In the alternative, the petitioners want an order cancelling the election and compelling INEC to conduct a fresh election at which Tinubu, Shettima and the APC, listed as 2nd, 3rd and 4th Respondents, respectively, shall not participate.

They urged the court to declare that since Tinubu was not duly elected by a majority of the lawful votes cast in the election, therefore, his return as the winner of the presidential election, was unlawful, unconstitutional and of no effect whatsoever.

“That it be determined that based on the valid votes cast at the presidential election of 25th February, 2023, the 1st Petitioner scored the highest number of votes cast at the election and not less than one-quarter of the votes cast at the election in each of at least two-thirds of all the states of the federation and the FCT, Abuja, and ought to be declared and returned as the winner of the presidential election.

“An order directing the 1st Respondent to issue the Certificate of Return to the 1st Petitioner as the duly elected President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

As well as; “That  it be determined that the Certificate of Return wrongly issued to the 2nd Respondent by the 1st Respondent is null and void and be set aside.”

In a further alternative prayer in the petition dated March 20, which Obi filed through a team of lawyers led by Dr. Livy Uzoukwu, SAN, and Awa Kalu, SAN, he wants the tribunal to hold that the presidential election was void on the ground that it was not conducted substantially in accordance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022, and the 1999 Constitution, as amended.

Likewise, an order, “cancelling the presidential election conducted on 25th February 2023 and mandating the 1st Respondent to conduct a fresh election for the President, the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

The PDP and its candidate, Atiku, were yet to perfect the filing of their petition as at 7pm on Tuesday.

Similarly, the Action Alliance, AA, and the Allied Peoples Movement, APM, have lodged separate petitions to challenge the outcome of the presidential poll.

APM, AA’s petitions

The petition of AA and its Presidential Candidate, Solomon Okanigbuan, was marked: CA/PEPC/01/2023, and that of the APM was marked: CA/PEPC/04/2023.

Ir was gathered that the petitions were brought to the Secretariat on Monday evening.

Culled from Vanguard