LP and its candidate, Obi, have formally lodged a petition to nullify the declaration of Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), as the winner of the election
By Emma Ogbuehi
In a bid to prove their claims that they were the rightful choice of Nigerians in the February 25 presidential poll, Labour Party (LP), and its candidate, Peter Obi, have formally lodged a petition to nullify the declaration of Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), as the winner of the election.
The petition marked: CA/PEPC/03/2023, has the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Tinubu, his running mate, Senator Shettima and the APC as the 1st to 4tg Respondents.
The petitioners are praying for the tribunal to declare that Tinubu was not duly elected by a majority of the lawful votes cast at the election.
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They want an order mandating INEC to retrieve the Certificate of Return issued to the APC candidate and issue a fresh one to the LP candidate, Obi.
Specifically, the petitioners alleged that at the time of the election, Tinubu was not qualified to contest.
They equally argued that the election was invalid by reason of corrupt practices and non-compliance with the provision of Electoral Act,2022.
Also pushing for the nullification of Tinubu’s victory, the Action Alliance (AA) and the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) have lodged separate petitions to challenge the outcome of the presidential election.
While the petition by AA and its presidential candidate, Solomon Okanigbuan, was marked: CA/PEPC/01/2023, that of the APM was marked: CA/PEPC/04/2023.
It was gathered that the petitions were brought before the Secretariat late in the evening on Monday.
The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, was not known to have filed his own petition by Tuesday afternoon. He is however expected to do so before midnight when the deadline will elapse.
There have been outpouring of criticisms on the processes and conduct of the election. INEC which had promised before the election that the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) would be used as support technology to ensure transparency in the poll, ended up reneging on the pledge in some instances, claiming that its system was compromised.