The Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has approached the election tribunal to contest the declaration of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as the president-elect in the February 25th presidential election.

Atiku Abubakar joined his counterpart, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party Peter Obi who had earlier taken a similar step to annul the presidential election, by filing a petition with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu,(President–elect), and All Progressive Congress named as the respondents.

Also, the Action Alliance, (AA) and the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) have equally lodged separate petitions to challenge the outcome of the presidential election.

In the petition by AA and its presidential candidate, Solomon Okanigbuan, marked: CA/PEPC/01/2023, they are praying the Tribunal to nullify the presidential election by reason of unlawful exclusion of their candidate.

The APM and its presidential candidate, Ojei Princess Chichi in their petition marked: CA/PEPC/04/2023 argued that Tinubu was not qualified to contest the election as at the time the election was held.

The party submitted that by the provisions of Section 131(C) and 142 of the constitution And Section 35 of the Electoral Act, 2022, the declaration and return of the 3rd defendant (Tinubu) as the duly elected President are invalid by reason of non compliance with the provisions of the constitution and the Electoral Act.

Alhaji Abubakar Atiku and the PDP premised their petition on the ground that The election of the 2nd Respondent (Bola Ahmed Tinubu is” invalid by reason of non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, i by reason of corrupt practices, that he was not duly elected by majority of lawful votes cast at the Election, and that at the time of the election was not qualified to contest the Election”

Represented by a team of lawyers led by Joe Kyari Gadzama, the petitioners further noted that “ the election was not conducted in accordance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022, and other extant laws and that the non-compliance substantially affected the result of the Election, in that the 2nd Respondent ought not to have been declared or returned as the winner of the Election.

“The Petitioners state that the Election was not conducted in compliance with the provisions of Sections 47(2) & (3), 60(1), (2) & (5), 64(4)(a) & (b), 64(5), (6), (7) & (8), 71 and 73 of the Electoral Act, Paragraphs 3.3.0 and 3.4.0 of the 1st Respondent’s published Manual for Election Officials 2023 (“INEC Manual” or “Manual”), and Paragraphs 19, 35, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 47, 48, 50, and 62 of the 1st Respondent’s published Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections 2022 (“INEC Regulations” or “Regulations” or “Regulations and Guidelines”).”

The petitioners therefore prayed the tribunal to grants its six requests which states thus “ That it may be determined that the 2nd Respondent was not duly elected by a majority of lawful votes cast in the Election and therefore the declaration and return of the 2nd Respondent by the 1st Respondent as the winner of the Presidential Election conducted on the 25th day of February, 2023 is unlawful, wrongful, unconstitutional, undue, null and void and of no effect whatsoever.

“That it may be determined that the return of the 2nd Respondent by the 1st Respondent was wrongful, unlawful, undue, null and void having not satisfied the requirements of the Electoral Act 2022 and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) which mandatorily requires the 2nd Respondent to score not less than one quarter (25%) of the lawful votes cast at the Election in each of at least two-thirds of all the States in the Federation AND the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

“That it may be determined that the 2nd Respondent was at the time of the election not qualified to contest the said election.

“That it may be determined that the 1st Petitioner having scored the majority of lawful votes cast at the Presidential election of Saturday, 25th February 2023, be returned as the winner of the said election and be sworn in as the duly elected President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“ An Order directing the 1st Respondent to conduct a second election (run-off) between the 1 Petitioner and the 2nd Respondent.

“That the election to the office of the President of Nigeria held on 25th February 2023 be nullified and a fresh election (re-run) ordered”.