The Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, sitting in Abuja, today, reserved its judgement on the petition that a former Vice President and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, filed to nullify President Bola Tinubu’s election.
The Justice Haruna Tsammani-led five-member panel okayed the matter for judgement, after all the parties adopted their final briefs of argument.
While adopting their final written address, Atiku and the PDP, through their team of lawyers led by Chief Chris Uche, SAN, urged the court to declare that President Tinubu was not qualified to contest the presidential poll that held on February 25.
Alternatively, the Petitioners, urged the court to nullify the entire outcome of the presidential election and order a re-run or fresh contest.
Atiku and his party alleged that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, despite receiving over N355billion for the conduct of the election, deliberately bypassed all the technological innovations it introduced for the purpose of the 2023 general elections.
They contended that INEC acted in breach of the amended Electoral Act, when it refused to electronically transmit results of the presidential election.
However, all the Respondents- INEC, President Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress, APC- through their respective lawyers, prayed the court to dismiss the petition as grossly lacking in merit.
INEC, through its legal team led by Mr. Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN, maintained that the presidential election was not only validly conducted, but done in substantial compliance with all the relevant laws.
Likewise, President Tinubu’s team, led by Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, argued that the petitioners failed to establish why the presidential election should be nullified.
Insisting that he was duly elected with majority of valid votes that were cast during the election, President Tinubu, urged the court to dismiss Atiku’s petition.
On its part, the APC, represented by Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, equally prayed the court to dismiss the petition for want of merit.
The court said it would communicate the judgement date to all the parties.
