Mahmud, Adehi, and three more SANs are added to INEC’s legal team against Atiku and Obi

To defend the 2023 Presidential Election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has appointed five Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) under the leadership of Abubakar Balarabe Mahmud.

Stephen Adehi, Pinheiro Oluwakemi Adekunle, Miannaya Essien, and Abdullahi Aliyu make up the SANS team.

Garba Hassan, Esq., Patricia Obi, Esq., and Musa Attah, Esq. are other legal professionals.

Mahmud, a reputable attorney, verified the nomination.

Bola Tinubu, the nominee of Nigeria’s dominant party, the APC, was proclaimed the victor of the Presidential Election on February 25, 2023, by INEC on March 1, 2023.

In the election, Mr. Tinubu defeated 17 other contenders. He received the highest number of Votes (8,794,726) overall, which satisfied the first constitutional condition to be proclaimed the victor.

Moreover, he received more than 25% of the votes cast in 30 states, which is more than the legally required 24 states.

Atiku Abubakar of the PDP finished second in the poll, according to INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu, who made the announcement of the final results in Abuja.

In the election, Atiku received 6,984,520 votes overall.

With a total of 6,101,533 votes, Peter Obi of the Labour Party came in third, and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the NNPP came in fourth with 1,496,687 votes.

Atiku and Obi contend, however, that they outperformed Tinubu and that INEC erred in naming him the winner of the poll.

Since then, they have submitted applications to the Presidential Election Tribunal contesting Tinubu’s proclamation.

Tinubu “was not legitimately elected by a majority of the valid votes cast at the time of the election,” according to Obi’s further argument in the petition.

Obi asserted that 11 states had been rigged, and he promised to prove it in the declaration of results based on the uploaded results.

“The petitioners shall show that in the computation and declaration of the result of the election, based on the updated results, the votes recorded for the second respondent (Tinubu) did not comply with the legitimate process for the computation of the result and disfavor the petitioners in the following states: Rivers, Lagos, Taraba, Benue, Adamawa, Imo, Bauchi, Borno, Kaduna, Plateau, and other states of the federation,” the petition stated.

Even though at the time of the announcement, all of the polling unit results had not yet been fully scanned, uploaded, and transferred electronically as required by the Electoral Act, Obi and LP claimed INEC broke its own rules when it published the outcome.

The petitioners asked the tribunal to “find that the second and third respondents (Tinubu and Shettima) were not entitled to contest the presidential election held on February 25, 2023,” among other things.

“That it be determined that, due to the second and third respondents’ ineligibility, every vote cast for the second respondent in the election was wasted.

“That it is decided that, based on the remaining votes (after discounting the votes credited to the second respondent), the first petitioner (Obi) scored a majority of the legal votes cast at the election and had not less than 25% of the votes cast in each of at least two-thirds of the states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, and satisfied the constitutional requirements to be declared the winner of the February 25, 2023 pre-election,”

“That it be found that the second respondent (Tinubu) was not entitled to be declared and returned as the winner of the presidential election held on February 25, 2023, having failed to score one-quarter of the votes cast at the presidential election in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

In addition, the petitioners are requesting that the tribunal issue a ruling ordering INEC to hold a new election in which Tinubu, Shettima, and the APC shall not run.

The tribunal has not yet set a time for the petition’s hearing, which was submitted by Livy Ozoukwu, the petitioners’ primary attorney.

The petition from Atiku and the PDP was designated CA/PEPC/05/2023, and respondents included INEC, Tinubu, and the APC.

Silas Onu, a member of Atiku’s legal team, told Channels TV that the petition has been filed.

In essence, the petition calls for the annulment of Tinubu’s victory.

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