Atiku Abubakar files petition, demands rerun or annulment of Nigerian presidential elections

Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, has asked the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) to declare him the winner or order a rerun between him and the ‘President-elect,’ Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

Tinubu was declared the winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission, who then declared him “President-elect.”

Atiku, who finished second in the election, filed his petition to the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja around midnight on Tuesday.

He claimed in his petition to the tribunal that the election was marred by various irregularities, including the non-qualification of the APC candidate.

Atiku also stated that Tinubu failed to secure the majority of the lawful votes cast in the election, as well as one-quarter of the lawful votes cast in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

“The Petitioners shall further contend that for any candidate to be declared winner of the presidential election in which more than two candidates are contesting, such a candidate must have the highest number of votes cast at the election, and he must have not less than one-quarter of the votes cast at the election in each of at least two-thirds of all states in the Federation and at least one-quarter (25%) of the votes cast in the Federal Capital,” he told the court.

“The 2nd Respondent having not scored 25% of the votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja ought not to have been declared winner of the Election by the 1st Respondent.”

He also claimed that the election was conducted in flagrant violation of the law.

As a result, the PDP candidate urged the court to either declare him the president-elect, believing that he received the majority of lawful votes during the election, or to annul the entire election and order a new election.

These are the main reliefs sought in the petition filed for him and the PDP on Tuesday night at the PEPC secretariat by their legal team led by Joe Gadzama (SAN).

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Tinubu, and his All Progressives Congress party are listed as respondents in the petition marked CA/PEPC/05/2023 (APC).

The election is being challenged by Atiku and the PDP on four grounds.

Kingsley Sheteh Newuh

Mimi Mefo Info