Presidential Election Petitions: Tribunal Begins Hearing

The Presidential Election Petitions Court has commenced hearing for the petitions challenging the declaration of the All Progressives Congress standard bearer, Bola Tinubu as the president-elect.

The National Legal Adviser of the All Progressives Congress, Ahmad El-Marzuq, said the APC legal team had been briefed and is ready to defend the party’s mandate.

Findings show that it’s for a pre-hearing session. The hearing is to clarify if there are any applications before the main hearing will start. The timetable will be set for the hearing of the substantive matters. Findings also showed that the court stopped receiving replies from the petitioners on April 23.

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Mahmood Yakubu, had on March 1 declared Tinubu the president-elect on the grounds that his party scored the majority of votes cast in the polls. The former Lagos state Governor had polled 8.8 million to defeat Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party who scored 6.9 million, Peter Obi of the Labour Party who got 6.1 million and 15 others.

Atiku Abubakar alleged that Tinubu failed to win the majority of the lawful votes cast in the election, and just as he could not secure one-quarter of the lawful votes cast in the FCT. He equally alleged that the election was conducted in substantial non-compliance with the provisions of the law.

Also, a faction of the Action Alliance is seeking the tribunal’s order to nullify Tinubu’s victory as the president-elect. The Action Alliance and its presidential flag bearer hinged their petition on INEC’s failure to upload the name of its candidate, Solomon-David Okanigbuan – to its portal for the February election. It contended that the victory of the President-elect will not stand owing to the “flawed process” of nominating his Vice Presidential pick, Kashim Shettima.

Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi have since filed separate petitions seeking orders to annul the election or declare them as winners of the polls.