13th April, 2023
The President-elect Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has asked the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal to throw out the petition filed against his victory in the February 25 election by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar.
Tinubu said President-elect said these in his response to the petition filed by Atiku and the PDP before the PEPC challenging his victory in the February 25 poll.
Tinubu, who contested on the platform of APC as the winner of the presidential election with total score of 8,794,726 votes.
He also scored over 25 per cent of the votes cast in 30 states, more than the 24 states constitutionally required.
Atiku came second in the election with a total of 6,984,520 votes.
But in the petition he filed at the PEPC, Atiku alleged that the election was marred with malpractices.
The PDP candidate alleged that the election was rigged across many states and that he actually won the election.
He therefore prayed the court to be declared the winner or for the court to order a rerun.
However, Tinubu, in his response filed on Wednesday night by his team of lawyers led by Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) dismissed the claims of Atiku, according to The Nation newspapers
For one, the President-Elect noted that the PDP presidential candidate has a history of contesting for the presidency and losing which dated back to 19993.
He also argued that Atiku could not had won the election given the division with his party before and after the election.
He noted: “The 1st petitioner (Atiku) has been consistently contesting and losing successive presidential elections in Nigeria since 1993, whether at the party primary election level or at the general election; including 1993, when he lost the Social Democratic Party (SDP) primary election to the late Chief M.K.O Abiola; 2007, when he lost the presidential election to the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua; 2011, when he lost the Peoples Democratic Party presidential primary election to President Goodluck Jonathan; 2015, when he lost the APC primary election to President Muhammadu Buhari; 2019, when he lost the presidential election to President Muhammadu Buhari; and now, 2023, when he has again, lost the presidential election to the 2nd respondent (Tinubu).
“It was/is not a surprise and/or not by accident that the electorate rejected the 1st petitioner at the polls of the presidential election held on 25th February, 2023,” Tinubu said.
He added that Atiku also has a tradition of jumping from one political party to another while his victory at the presidential primary of his party resulted in crisis in PDP where five governors opposed his ambition.
On the other hand, Tinubu noted that the PDP had on 28 February filed filed a suit at the Supreme Court, through some of its governors, asking for the cancellation of the election.
He noted that that in the suit filed by Adamawa, Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo and Sokoto states, the PDP, had among others asked that the February 25 presidential election should be cancelled.
‘The plaintiffs attacked INEC for not following its Manual and Regulations in the conduct of the election, and also complained of glitches, which is also the thrust of their petition.
“While the originating summons (in the suit before the Supreme Court) was filed on 28th February, 2023, this petition was filed on 21st March, 2023.
“The petitioners herein, through themselves and/or their proxies filed the originating summons at the Supreme Court, before filing this petition.
“The petitioners are maintaining two processes in respect of the same subject and/or complaint of theirs, against the conduct of the presidential election held on 25th February, 2023.
“This latter petition is abusive of the originating summons filed at the Supreme Court and is liable to be dismissed in limine,” he said.
Also, the President-Elect noted that Atiku failed to join Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) in his petition despite the fact that he was also contesting the results from states where the two parties and their candidates were victorious.
“The petitioners complained about outcome of the election in Abia, Anambra, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Enugu, Imo, Kano, Plateau and Lagos states.
“The 2nd respondent (Tinubu) was not declared as the overall winner in any of the states aforementioned.
“Mr. Peter Gregory Obi of the Labour Party was declared the overall winner of the election in Abia, Anambra, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Enugu, Imo, Plateau and Lagos states, while Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria People’s Party was declared winner of the election in Kano State.
“None of Labour Party, Peter Gregory Obi, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, and New Nigeria People’s Party has been joined as a party to this petition.
“The 2nd respondent cannot be made willy-nilly to defend any infraction allegedly committed in any of the states afore-mentioned.
“The petitioners are querying the result of elections in all the states where they won the election, including but not limited to Adamawa, Bauchi, Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Gombe, Yobe, Sokoto, Osun, Kebbi and Katsina states, without making themselves co-respondents to the petition; whereas, under Section 133(2) of the Electoral Act, 2022, a party whose election is being challenged shall be made a respondent.”