People Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar has asked the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) to declare him the winner of the Federal 25 election.
Alternatively, he prayed the court to order a rerun between him and the president-elect, Bola Tinubu.
In the alternative, he wants the entire election nullified and a fresh one conducted.
The petition by Atiku and PDP, a copy of which our reporter obtained yesterday, was filed late Tuesday by their team of lawyers, led by Chief Joe-Kyari Gadzama (SAN), and is numbered CA/PEPC/05/2023.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) are the first, second and third respondents.
Tinubu scored 8,794,726 votes to defeat Atiku, who polled 6,984,520 and Labour Party (LP) candidate Peter Obi, who garnered 6,101,533 votes.
Atiku and the PDP are challenging the result on four grounds:
•The election of the second respondent is invalid by reason of noncompliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.
•The election of the second respondent is invalid by reason of corrupt practices.
•The second respondent was not duly elected by a majority of lawful votes cast at the election.
•The second respondent was, at the time of the election, not qualified to contest the election.
The petitioners stated that they “shall lead oral and documentary evidence at the hearing in proof of the fact that the result of the election, as announced by the first respondent (INEC) and especially the votes wrongly allocated to the second respondent (Tinubu) do not represent the lawful valid votes cast; and that lawful votes were deliberately and massively deducted from the first petitioner’s (Atiku’s) scores by INEC to facilitate the return of Tinubu.”
They further stated that INEC failed to comply with its guidelines and regulations to transmit results and accreditation data directly and in real-time to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IREV) and its electronic collation system/storage device before the hasty return and announcement of Tinubu as the winner on March 1, 2023.
They said: “The petitioners contend that by the combined provisions of the Electoral Act, the INEC Regulations and Guidelines and the INEC Manual, the votes collated at the polling units are to be electronically transmitted with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) directly and real-time to the INEC electronic collation system and IReV portal.
“The petitioners aver strongly that the first respondent, having set the parameters, did not ensure compliance with the electronic transmission of accreditation data and results in this election to create opportunity for manipulation of figures to the advantage of the second and third (APC) respondents.”
On their argument that Tinubu did not score the required votes on the FCT, the petitioners are contending that Tinubu, who contested on the APC platform, did not secure at least one-quarter of the votes cast in the presidential election in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
“Out of the total votes of 478,652 cast in Abuja, the second respondent was ascribed only 90,902 (18.99 per cent) of those votes.
“The petitioners shall contend that to be declared duly elected, a candidate, in addition to obtaining not less than a quarter (25 per cent) of the votes cast in at least two-thirds of all the states, must also receive at least one quarter (25 per cent) of the votes cast in Abuja, this being an additional requirement introduced by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), the said Constitution having clearly distinguished the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja as a separate entity by specific and express mention.”
Obi scored 281,717 votes in Abuja, representing 59 per cent; Tinubu scored 90, 902, representing 19 per cent, while Atiku came third in the FCT with 74,119 votes, representing 15 per cent.
On their claim that the process was marred by corrupt practices, the petitioners are contending that the collation of election results in all the states was manipulated by INEC through the deliberate suppression and discounting of the lawful votes of the petitioners while allegedly inflating the scores by Tinubu and APC.
“The particulars of corrupt practices before and during the disputed election include but not limited to the following, viz, compromised printing/production of electoral materials, manipulation of election material delivery, and compromised printing/production of election materials,” the petitioners said.
They further claimed the commission “manipulated and deliberately ‘managed’ the votes emanating from the polling units in that the first respondent through its officials, suppressed votes of the petitioners and wrongly credited the second and third respondents with the said votes.”
The petitioners, who further claimed that the election “is invalid on account of corrupt practices,” cited alleged instances of corrupt practices before and during the disputed election, to suppression of votes; manipulation of the ballots and ballot boxes; manipulation of BVAS machines; manipulation of accreditation and collation; manipulation of election material delivery, and manipulation of election material reverse logistics.
Other corrupt practices, according to the petitioners, include intimidation and harassment of voters; massive thumb-printing of ballot papers; destruction of electoral materials; hijack of electoral materials; mutilations, cancellations and overwriting on result sheets, and inflation, deflation of scores, and wrong entries in result sheets.
On the petitioners’ claim that Tinubu was not duly elected by the majority of the lawful votes cast at the election, Atiku and the PDP said they “shall lead evidence at the hearing to show that:-
“(a) The result of the election as announced by INEC and especially the votes allocated to the second respondent do not represent the lawful valid votes cast at the election; and
“(b) The lawful votes cast at the election were deliberately and massively deducted from the first petitioner’s scores by INEC in order to return Tinubu.
“The petitioners shall further contend that the mandatory requirements of the Electoral Act, INEC Regulations and INEC Manual that stipulate for the recording of the quantity, serial numbers and other particulars of result sheets, ballot papers and other sensitive electoral materials to be used in conducting the election were not complied with before and after the election as the first respondent and its officers failed to effect the required entries.”
Atiku and the PDP are praying the court for the following:
•That it may be determined that the second respondent was not duly elected by the majority of lawful votes cast in the election and therefore his declaration and return by INEC 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 second respondent by INEC 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 second respondent to score not less than one quarter (25 per cent) 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 second respondent was, at the time of the election, not qualified to contest the said election.
•That it may be determined that the first 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.
In the alternative, the petitioners prayed for:
•An order directing the first respondent to conduct a second election (run-off) between the first petitioner and the second respondent.
In further alternative:
•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.
Umahi seeks withdrawal of petitions
Also yesterday, Ebonyi State Governor David Umahi urged Obi and Atiku to withdraw their petitions and join hands with Tinubu to rebuild the nation.
The governor made the call in a broadcast and during a briefing at the Executive Council Chambers, Government House, Abakaliki.
He urged the litigants to see Tinubu’s victory as God’s will and admonished them against unnecessary litigations.
He commended President Muhammadu Buhari and the INEC Chairman Mahmud Yakubu for the invaluable innovations brought into the electoral process.
Umahi said: “Let me officially congratulate the President-elect, Asiwaju Tinubu and his Vice, Kashim Shettima for the glorious victory God granted them.
“I plead with our brother, His Excellency Peter Obi and His Excellency, the former Vice President of Nigeria, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to accept the verdict of God and join hands with the President-elect and his Vice to move Nigeria forward.”
