Atiku Abubakar, the Presidential candidate of the Folk’s Democratic Celebration has requested the Presidential Election Petition Court docket in Abuja to divulge him as Nigeria’s president-elect.
As a outcomes of the alleged irregularities that marred the 25 February pollin hundreds of polling units, Atiku urged the court docket to rupture the election and assert a recent election.
His team of senior legal professionals led by Joe-Kyari Gadzama, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), filed the petition at the Presidential Election Petition Court docket on Tuesday, beating the 21-day statutory cut-off date put for submitting such cases from when INEC presented the final outcomes of the election since the open of 1 Mach. Atiku’s team of legal professionals filed the petition around 8 p.m. on Tuesday.
The petition filed modified into as soon as due to the declaration of Mr Tinubu who polled 8,794,726, as the winner of the election by the Self reliant National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman Mahmood Yakubu. The electoral body declared that Atiku got right here 2d after he polled a full of 6,984,520 votes, whereas Peter Obi of the Labour Celebration got right here third with a full of 6,101,533 votes, and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the NNPP got right here fourth with 1,496,687 votes.
The petition, collectively filed by Atiku and the PDP as co-petitioners, named INEC, Mr Tinubu and the APC as respondents.
Mr Obi, who is moreover no longer easy Mr Tinubu’s victory, had earlier filed his own petition at the court docket in Abuja in a similar vogue asking the court docket to divulge him the winner or rupture the election or assert a rerun.
Grounds of the petition
Atiku and the PDP laid four bases for the petition, pronouncing Mr Tinubu’s election “is invalid by cause of noncompliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.”
He moreover argued that INEC compromised the outcomes of the presidential pollby failing to electronically transmit the election ends in accurate-time.
He added Mr Tinubu ought now to no longer had been declared or returned as the winner of the election that the alleged gargantuan non-compliance with the law affected the outcomes of the election
Atiku further contended that INEC “wrongly returned” Mr Tinubu “as the winner of the election, allocating to him 8,794,726 votes whereas ascribing to him (Atiku) 6,984520 votes.”
He defined that opposite to Mr Yakubu’s repeated assurances sooner than the overall elections to habits the most efficient election in Nigeria’s democratic historical past. The electoral body did no longer electronically transmit ends in accurate-time from polling units to INEC’s electronic collation system and Results Viewing Portal (IReV) the employ of the Bimodal Voters Accreditation Map (BVAS) machines.
As well, the petitioners acknowledged INEC did no longer agree to Fragment 66 of the Electoral Act which is incorporated with Fragment 134 of the Nigerian structure. They argue that the law presents for “geographical spread” which ought to be met by the winner of the election.
Atiku equally argued his petition on the ground that the margin of lead – 1,810,206 votes – modified into as soon as decrease than the selection of Everlasting Voters Cards (PVCs) mild in “the polling units where elections had been cancelled and did no longer retain in some unspecified time in the future of the nation.
Furthermore, Atiku acknowledged that INEC’s declaration of Mr Tinubu as the winner of the pollwas as soon as “lickety-split, premature and wrongful.
The petitioners further accused INEC of manipulating votes as Electoral officials “suppressed” Atiku’s votes, crediting both Tinubu and Obi with the acknowledged stolen votes.
Mr Tinubu is moreover acknowledged now to no longer had been elected by a majority of unbiased correct votes solid at the ballot.
The petitioners moreover acknowledged Mr Tinubu at the time of the election modified into as soon as no longer licensed to vie for the presidency.
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