ABUJA, Nigeria – Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, on Tuesday, June 6, 2023, has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, of obstructing his petition to challenge the results of the 2023 presidential election.
Despite having paid over N6 million for the certification of exhibits he plans to submit before the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, in Abuja, Atiku alleges that INEC has not provided him with the requested materials.
As a result, his lawyer, Mr. Eyitayo Jegede, SAN, urged Justice Haruna Tsammani’s five-member panel to postpone the hearing on the petition seeking to annul President Bola Tinubu’s election until Wednesday, June 7, 2023.
Atiku’s counsel sought to present evidence from 10 of Kogi State’s 21 Local Government Areas, LGAs, at the resumption of the petition proceedings. He disclosed that his client had requested electoral materials from all the LGAs in the state but was only provided with results from ten.
Jegede asked for an adjournment to allow his team to re-approach INEC for the necessary documentation, having subpoenaed top INEC officials to bring certain electoral documents to court.
Cited as respondents in the case (CA/PEPC/05/2023) are INEC, President Tinubu, and the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Atiku and PDP, in a joint petition, insisted that President Tinubu’s declaration as the winner of the presidential election was invalid due to non-compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022.
They contested that Tinubu, who has since assumed the presidency, was not elected by a majority of lawful votes and was not qualified to run at the time of the election.
The petitioners have so far presented ten witnesses and over 338 exhibits in court, with plans to present certified copies of presidential election results from all 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, among other documents.
