Atiku, Obi, APM, AA file petition to reverse Tinubu's win

• AA and APM also file motion to overturn presidential election results

By: Sunday Ejike | Abuja

The Labor Party (LP) presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi and his party have filed a petition with the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal sitting at the Abuja Court of Appeal challenging the statement of the All Progressive presidential candidate Congress (APC), Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 presidential election.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which conducted the presidential election, declared Tinubu the winner, after polling a total of 8,794,726 to defeat his closest rivals and candidates from the People's Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Mr. Obi, who scored 6,984, 520 and 6,101,533 respectively.

INEC President Prof. Mahmood Yakubu declared Tinubu President-elect on March 1 in Abuja.

Obi and Atiku had called for the cancellation of the election results, alleging malpractice over the election arbitrator's failure to immediately electronically upload the results from his polling stations to the portal. visualization of INEC results.

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Obi, who finished third in the contest, filed his petition at the Registry of the Petitions Tribunal for the Presidential Election, sitting in Abuja on March 20.

In the petition, Obi and his party, the Labor Party, are the petitioners, while INEC, President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu; Shettima Kashim (Vice President-elect) and APC are the sponsors.

Outlining the grounds for the petition, Obi's lead attorney, Livy Ozoukwu (SAN), said that Tinubu, at the time of the presidential election, was not qualified to stand for election in office of president as he was fined the sum of $460,000 for an offense involving dishonesty, namely, trafficking in narcotics imposed by the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Division Oriental in Case No. 93C 4483 between the United States against funds in three different foreign accounts in the name of Bola Tinubu.

Obi said that based on the valid votes cast in the presidential election, he received the highest number of votes and should be declared and re-elected as the winner of the presidential election.

The petitioners request, “An order directing the INEC to issue a certificate of return to the first petitioner (Obi) as the duly elected President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

"That, it be determined that the return certificate wrongfully issued to the second respondent (Tinubu) by the first respondent (INEC) is null, void, and void," the petitioners prayed and further contended that the February- The presidential election of February 25 is void on the grounds that it was not conducted in substance in accordance with the provisions of the electoral law of 2022 and the constitution.

Ozoukwu argued that the president-elect "was not duly elected by a majority of the legal votes cast at the time of the election", and urged the court to determine that at the time of the presidential election as of February 25, 2023, Tinubu and Shettima were not qualified to contest the election.

He requested the court to determine that all votes cast for Tinubu in the election are wasted votes, due to the unqualification of the president-elect and vice-president-elect.

"Be it determined that the 2nd Respondent (Tinubu) who failed to obtain a quarter of the votes cast in the presidential election in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, was not entitled to be declared and re-elected winner of the presidential election of February 25, 2023."

Obi and his party, in their petition CA/PEPC/03/2023, also argued that the February 25 presidential election was invalid due to corrupt practices and non-compliance with the provisions of the electoral law of 2022.

The petitioners requested the court to issue "an order nullifying the election and requiring the 1st respondent (INEC) to hold a new election in which the 2nd respondent (Tinubu), the 3rd respondent (Shettima) and the 4th responder (APC) will not participate.”

Meanwhile, the Action Alliance (AA) and the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) have also filed separate petitions challenging the result of the presidential election.

In the petition of AA and its presidential candidate, Solomon Okanigbuan, marked: CA/PEPC/01/2023, they ask the Court to annul the presidential election due to the illegal exclusion of their candidate.

PAM and its presidential candidate, Princess Ojei Chichi, in its petition marked: CA/PEPC/04/2023 argued that Tinubu was not qualified to contest the election as it was then ...