PDP states withdraw Supreme Court case challenging Tinubu victory

Seven state governments under the control of Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) governors have dropped their lawsuit seeking a Supreme Court review of the February 25 election results.

The state governments - Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Taraba and Sokoto - had sued the federal government in the Supreme Court over the 2023 presidential and National Assembly elections.

State attorneys general had filed a lawsuit asking the Supreme Court to intervene in the just-concluded general election. They based their demands on a potential breakdown of public order and civil disobedience.

Their action challenged the declaration of Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as president-elect.

But Mike Ozekhome, a senior lawyer in Nigeria, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the seven states, asked for the case to be dropped on Friday.

In a text message he shared with PREMIUM TIMES, Mr. Ozekhome explained that the complaint was made "during the erroneous manual collection of results contrary to the clear provisions of the electoral law, directives and regulations of INEC and of the manual for INEC officials”.

He said the suit should be dropped “due to the fact that the erroneous results have already been announced and a president-elect has been declared, albeit illegally and unconstitutionally.”

He said that with the declaration, the case had been overtaken by events and that it "will now be a matter of court (of electoral petition)".

“Take notice that the plaintiffs hereby drop this action against the defendant,” reads the notice of discontinuance sent to PREMIUM TIMES on Friday evening.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how Atiku and Peter Obi began their legal challenge to the election result on Friday.

The Abuja Court of Appeal on Friday allowed the two opposition candidates to inspect the voter registers from the election.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Mr. Tinubu the winner of the presidential election in Nigeria.

Mr. Tinubu, who was a presidential candidate for the All Progressives Congress (APC), defeated Atiku of the PDP and Mr. Obi of the Labor Party in the February 25 presidential election.

READ ALSO: Join APC to lift Nigeria to greater height - Abdullahi Adamu told PDP, LP and others

But Atiku and Mr. Obi contest the result of the presidential election. They accuse INEC of not uploading real-time election results from polling stations to its portal.

Suit

In their discontinued case filed in the Supreme Court, the DPP states – Adamawa, Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Taraba and Sokoto – sued the federal government in the Supreme Court, challenging the declaration of the President of INEC, Mahmood Yakubu of Mr. Tinubu as President-Elect.

The plaintiffs have named the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) as defendant on behalf of the federal government.

They urged the Supreme Court to declare that the presidential poll violated the provisions of the electoral law and the constitution.

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