President Bola Tinubu says Atiku Abubakar’s petition challenging his victory at the 25 February presidential election is fraught with “repetitions, contradictions and confusion.”
Mr Tinubu’s lead counsel, Wole Olanipekun, is urging the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja to dismiss Atiku’s suit for lack of “substance.”
Atiku, who was the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party for the disputed election, is praying the court to nullify Mr Tinubu’s victory.
Atiku and the PDP jointly filed the petition at the court, accusing Nigeria’s electoral commission, INEC, of manipulating the entire election in favour of Mr Tinubu.
They also argued that INEC declined to upload the polling units results of the presidential election to the result viewing portal (IREV) in real time as stipulated in the election guidlines. This, they said, created the avenue for Mr Tinubu and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) to interfere with the votes.
Peter Obi, who came third in the election, behind Atiku who took the second spot, is similarly challenging the outcome of the poll in a separate petition filed at the court
They both prayed the five-member panel of the court headed by Haruna Tsammani to declare them president.
However in his final written address marking the end of the legal proceedings, Mr Tinubu’s lawyer, Mr Olanipekun, argued that Atiku failed to substantiate his claims of electoral fraud against the president. Atiku had contended that Mr Tinubu did not garner the highest number of lawful votes cast during the February election.
Credit: premiumtimesng.com
