Three out of the 18 political parties that participated in the February 25 presidential election have filed a suit, Tuesday, challenging the outcome of the presidential poll, which announced Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the ruling All Progressive Congress, as winner.
Among the petitioners are the Labour Party (LP) and its presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi; Action Alliance (AA) and its presidential candidate, Mr. Solomon Okangbuan, and Allied People’s Movement (APM) and its presidential candidate, Princess Chichi Ojei.
In the separate suits marked CA/PEPC/01/2023; CA/PEPC/03/2023 and CA/PEPC/04/2023; they are challenging the outcome of the February 25 presidential election on grounds of substantial non-compliance with the electoral law, as well as the guidelines of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The petitioners also alleged that the February 25 presidential election was characterised by huge irregularities and electoral malpractices following INEC’s failure to electronically upload results immediately from its polling units to the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IREV).
In the suit, INEC is the 1st respondent, while Tinubu, his vice president-elect, Kashim Shetima and the APC are 2nd, 3rd and 4th respondents respectively.
Obi and the Labour Party in their petition, are alleging that at the time of the presidential election, Tinubu and Shettima were not qualified to contest it, and as a result are praying the court to, therefore, void all the votes recorded for both the 2nd and 3rd respondents the
“That it be determined that on the basis of the remaining votes after discountenancing the votes credited to the 2 and 3 respondents, the 1st petitioner scored a majority of the lawful votes cast at the election and had not less than 25 per cent in each of 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 February 25, 2023 presidential election.
“That it be determined that 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 Saturday, February 25, 2023,” The petitioners’ prayed.
Obi and LP also queried on paragraph 28 of the petition the declaration of Tinubu as president-elect when he was not qualified to contest for the presidency because he was fined in America for involving in dishonesty bordering on narcotics trafficking.
“The petitioners further plead that the 2nd respondent was also at the time of the election not qualified to contest for election to the office of President, as he was fined the sum of $460,000 (Four-Hundred and Sixty Thousand United States Dollars) for an offence involving dishonesty, namely narcotics trafficking imposed by the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, in Case No: 93C 4483, “ the document stated.
It stated further: “That by reason of the said disqualification of the 2nd and 3rd respondents, the votes purportedly recorded for the 2nd respondent in the election were/are wasted and invalid; and that the petitioners who from the correct result of the election obtained the highest number of lawful votes cast in the election and met the constitutional requirements to be declared and returned as the winner of the election ought to be declared as the winner of the Presidential election held on February 25, 2023.”
INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, had on March 1, declared Tinubu president-elect on grounds that his party scored majority of votes cast at the poll and met all the requirements of the laws.
Tinubu polled 8,805,835 votes to emerge victorious. Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who came second, scored 6,984,640 votes, while Obi scored 6,101,533 votes.
With additional reports from the Guardian