Bola Tinubu, the President-elect of Nigeria’s All Progressives Congress (APC), has challenged the competence of petitions filed by the Labour Party (LP) and its candidate Peter Obi, as well as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate Atiku Abubakar to nullify his election victory.
Tinubu, along with his Vice-President-elect, Senator Kashim Shettima, filed a preliminary objection stating that Obi lacked standing to file a petition to challenge his election. He argued that Obi was not validly nominated to contest the presidential election, citing mandatory provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.
Tinubu claimed his consistency and track record of excellence in public service endeared him to millions of voters across the federation, while accusing Obi of jumping from one political party to another.
Tinubu argued that the LP lacked the structure to win the presidential contest. On his qualification, Tinubu told the court that he holds a Bachelor of Science in Business and Administration from Chicago State University since 1979 and has vast private and public sector work experience, including working as an auditor and treasurer with Mobil Oil Nigeria.
Tinubu also dismissed Atiku Abubakar’s petition, describing the PDP’s presidential candidate as a consistent serial loser who has crisscrossed different political parties in search of power since 1993. Tinubu plans to lead evidence in court to show how Atiku’s emergence as a candidate in the presidential election led to the “Balkanisation” of the opposition PDP.
Tinubu also argued that his party, the APC, is a national party popular among Nigerians, cutting across all divides. He said the PDP has been engrossed in intra-party irreconcilable feuds and infighting, both in relation to its national offices and officers, as well as the convention that produced Atiku as its presidential candidate. Tinubu claimed that Atiku’s call for his election to be nullified on the ground that he was required to score one-quarter of the lawful votes cast in each of at least two-thirds of all the states and the FCT becomes suspect and abusive when considered vis-à-vis relief 150(d).
Tinubu also dismissed Atiku’s alternative prayer for INEC to conduct a second election, stating that the request was not premised on any predicate declaratory relief. Consequently, Tinubu prayed the court to strike out the petition’s relevant paragraphs for being “nebulous, inchoate, imprecise, incompetent, generic, and vague” and dismiss the entire case for failure to establish a reasonable cause of action against his election victory.
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