The Presidential Election Petitions Court in Nigeria has set
Monday, May 8th, for the
hearing of petitions challenging the declaration of
Bola Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) standard bearer, as the
President-elect in the 2023 elections. Candidates disputing the outcome of the
election have requested for the election to be annulled or be declared the
winners of the polls. The National Legal Adviser of the APC, Ahmad El-Marzuq,
confirmed that the APC legal team was prepared to defend the party’s mandate.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a top official of the election petitions
tribunal confirmed that the hearing proceedings would start on May 8th, but as
a pre-hearing session to clarify if there are any applications before the main
hearing begins.
Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party and Peter Obi
of the Labour Party, who lost the elections, filed separate petitions. In his
petition, Atiku asked the Presidential Election Tribunal to declare him the
president-elect or cancel the election and order a fresh one due to alleged irregularities
that marred the polls. Obi, who came third in the election, alleged that the
election was characterised by various irregularities, including the
non-qualification of Tinubu and his running mate, Kashim Shettima.
The Action Alliance and its presidential flag bearer are also
seeking the tribunal’s order to nullify Tinubu’s victory as the
President-elect, citing INEC’s failure to upload the name of its candidate,
Solomon-David Okanigbuan – to its portal for the February election. The
Alliance People’s Movement also argued that Tinubu was not qualified to run for
office. INEC had recognised Al-Mustapha, a former chief security officer to the
late dictator, Sani Abacha, as AA’s presidential candidate for the election.
The APM whose presidential candidate, Chichi Ojei, polled 25,961 votes, argued
that Tinubu was not properly sponsored by the APC by fielding Shettima as vice
presidential candidate for the election.
