By Nifemi Adefemi
(With Agency Reports)
The Presidential Election Petitions Court (PEPC) has affirmed the victory of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and rejected moves by the candidates of the opposition parties to overturn the results of the Presidential election.
The court stated that the opposition parties failed to prove claims of electoral malpractice against the All Progressives Congress (APC) in February’s disputed elections.
Specifically, it dismissed the allegation by the Labour Party (LP) and its candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, that the 2023 presidential election was rigged in favour of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
The court, in its preliminary ruling that was delivered by Justice Abba Mohammed, held that Obi and the the LP, did not establish their allegation that the election that held on February 25, 2023 was characterized by corrupt practices.
It held that though the Petitioners alleged that the election was marred by irregularities, they, however, failed to give specific details of where the alleged infractions took place.
The court stressed that Obi’s allegation that fictitious results were recorded to President Tinubu and the APC, by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, was not proved. It also dismissed LP/Obi’s petition on 25 per cent of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) votes needed to win the presidential election. According to the court, FCT residents have no special privileges as the petitioners claimed.
The court had earlier thrown out the petition of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) against the All Progressives Congress (APC) Vice Presidential candidate Kashim Shettima, for being incompetent, is now dealing with the petition of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Earlier, the tribunal had dismissed the petition by the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) and its presidential candidate, Princess ChiChi Ojei, challenging the outcome of the February 25 election.
Ojei, who polled about 25,000 votes during the election had sought the cancellation of the declaration of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
However, in its ruling, the five-member panel headed by Haruna Tsammani declared the petition “incompetent” and “had no merit” and dismissed it.
After dealing with Obi’s petition, the tribunal is now ruling on the petition by Atiku Abubakar and the PDP.
INEC had declared Tinubu winner of the election with 8.8 million votes. Atiku polled a total of 6,984,520 votes in the election to come second, while Obi came behind Atiku with a total of 6,101,533 votes, according to INEC.
A total of 18 candidates contested the election, which turned out to be a three-horse race