Presidential Poll: Obi, Atiku to know fate as tribunal delivers verdict Wednesday
September 04, 2023
AbdulMalik Bakare
The Presidential Election Petition Court, P-E-P-C, (tribunal) sitting in Abuja, will on Wednesday, deliver judgment on petitions seeking to nullify President Bola Tinubu’s election.
The two petitions, marked CA/PEPC/05/2023 and CA/PEPC/03/2023, were brought before the court by a former Vice President and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, P-D-P, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, as well as the candidate of the Labour Party, L-P, Mr. Peter Obi, respectively.
Atiku and his party alleged that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, despite receiving over N355 billion for the conduct of the election, deliberately bypassed all the technological innovations it introduced for the purpose of the 2023 general elections.
They contended before the presidential tribunal that INEC acted in breach of the amended Electoral Act, when it refused to electronically transmit the results of the presidential election.
Peter Obi and his party argued that there was no glitch during the election but an intentional act to sabotage the outcome of the poll.
INEC’s legal team, led by Mr. Abubakar Mahmoud, S-A-N, maintained before the Presidential tribunal that the presidential election was not only validly conducted, but was done in substantial compliance with all the relevant laws.