Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the just concluded general elections Mr Peter Obi, has filed petition before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, alleging gross irregularities in the conduct of the election.
Obi is challenging the victory of Senator Bola Tinubu who was declared winner of the February 25 presidential election.
The Labour Party candidate in the petition sought five prayers which he filed to beat the 21-day deadline that elapsed yesterday.
Principal among the prayers is his call on the court to cancel the 25 February presidential election and order a fresh poll.
The petition, jointly filed by Mr Obi and the Labour Party as co-petitioners, joined the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mrs Tinubu, Shettima Kashim (vice president-elect), and the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the respondents.
Tuesday, being the 21st day after the declaration of the results of the election on 1 March, is the last day he and any other aggrieved candidates and political parties had to file their petition in court.
Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the APC, was declared winner of the presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after he scored over 8 million votes
Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) came second in the election. Atiku polled a total of 6,984,520 votes in the election.
Obi of the Labour Party came third in the election with a total of 6,101,533 votes, while Rabiu Kwankwaso of NNPP came fourth with 1,496,687 votes. Setting out the grounds for the petition, Mr Obi’s lead lawyer, Livy Ozoukwu said Mr Tinubu “at the time of the (presidential) election was not qualified to contest the election.”
Ozoukwu (SAN), argued that the president-elect “was not duly elected by majority of the lawful votes cast at the time of the election.
The senior lawyer led Atiku’s legal team when the former vice president unsuccessfully challenged the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019.
Similarly, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, formally filed his petition challenging the declaration of Senator Bola Tinubu as the president-elect.
In the petition dated March 20, 2023 and filed on March 21, with appeal number CA/PEPT/05/2023, Abubakar is praying the tribunal to nullify the declaration of Bola Tinubu as the president-elect.
INEC declared Tinubu as the winner of the election while Abubakar came second and Peter Obi of the Labour party came third.
