Nineteen days after the declaration of President Muhammadu Buhari as winner of the February 23, presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar and his party have finally filed petition challenging Buhari’s re-election.
Atiku and his party are challenging Buhari’s reelection on the grounds of alleged massive riggings, malpractices and non compliance substantially with the electoral laws.
In the filed petition this evening, main part of the prayers was for Atiku to be declared winner of the February 23 presidential election.
Also, they prayed alternatively that the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) nullify the poll and order for a fresh election that will be conducted in line with the provisions of the electoral laws.
Respondents in the suit are the All Progressives Congress, APC, Buhari and INEC.
Although a copy of the petition cannot be obtained at the time of filing this report, but the PDP National Legal Adviser, Emmanuel Enoidem, confirmed to journalists at the Court of Appeal, venue of the PEPT that the petition has been filled.
Enoidem said that the PDP and its presidential candidate have already assembled a powerful legal team, comprising 20 Senior Advocate of Nigeria SANs and other retinue of lawyers who will establish the fact of the petition.
He also disclosed that over 400 witnesses have been assembled to testify during the hearing of the petition.
In collaboration, Mike Ozekhome, SAN, further affirmed that the petition was strong, solid and unassailable.
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has said President Muhammadu Buhari’s posturing that he will not manipulate the March 23 governorship supplementary election is an indication that he rigged the presidential polls.
PDP said Buhari’s stance on the “supplementary elections is not only a direct confession that the Presidency used its overbearing influence to rig the February 23 Presidential election, but also a fresh subterfuge to divert public attention from APC’s rigging plots ahead of the Supplementary elections.”
A statement by PDP’s spokesperson, Kola Ologbondiyan said: “The Presidency’s confession that APC members are mounting pressure on President Buhari to help them to rig the Supplementary elections further confirms the Buhari Presidency’s manipulative and rigging capacity,
including militarization of the electoral process, instigating of violence and alteration of results, as were freely used by the APC in the Presidential election.
“We alert Nigerians, especially those in states where the supplementary elections have been scheduled to hold, to be wary of the antics of the Buhari Presidency, as it has never been committed to free, fair and credible election.
“Nigerians can recall that ahead of the Presidential and National Assembly elections, President Buhari had promised to allow for a free, fair, transparent and credible process, only for his Presidency and party, the APC, to engage in downright manipulations at INEC, deployment
of military and thugs to intimidate and suppress voters, as well as outright alteration of results delivered from the polling units.
“President Buhari cannot exonerate himself of the harm inflicted on our polity by the deployment of soldiers in the 2019 general elections, as nobody deploys the military except the President and Commander-in-Chief.
“Now that President Buhari, in his official capacity, has come out to state that he will not intervene in the March 23 Supplementary election; we ask, is Mr. President assuring Nigerians that any ‘soldier’ seen directly involving in the rerun election is fake and should be treated as such?
The PDP charged the “military to note the import of the statement by the Presidency and steer clear of the supplementary elections.”
“We also cautioned INEC officials to note that Nigerians are very eager about the outcome of the governorship supplementary elections, given that the PDP is already leading in these states. Nigerians are not ready to accept any results that do not reflect the reality of our
victory, which is already known to all,” the statement added.
