Atiku, PDP’s Petition Meaningless, APC Tells Tribunal

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has prayed the presidential election petition court (PEPC) sitting at the Court of Appeal in Abuja to dismiss the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, challenging the election of Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the February 25, 2023 presidential poll.

The governing party, the 4th respondent in the case, urged the tribunal to reject the petition in its notice of preliminary objection marked CA/PEPC/A/05/2023.

It said the petition does not have necessary particulars to support allegations of corrupt practices, violence and non-compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act being alleged by the PDP and its candidate.

The APC said the tribunal has no jurisdiction to adjudicate on the petitioners’ allegation predicated on ground (D) in paragraph 16 of the petition and the related paragraph 146 which lacks necessary facts or particulars as required by paragraph 4 (1)(d) of the rules of procedure for election petitions (1st Schedule to the electoral Act 2022.

“The petitioners’ paragraph 146 in support of ground four on non-qualification is vague, bare and meaningless as having the constitutional threshold is not part of the requirement to contest any election,” the APC said.

The APC said allegations of non-compliance must be made distinctly and proved on polling unit basis.

The party added that Atiku and PDP did not provide the particulars of polling units where any irregularity or non-compliance took place.

“The petition, as presently constituted, is devoid of necessary particulars to support allegations of corrupt practices, violence and non-compliance with provisions of the electoral act.

“Paragraph 35 of the petition is not relevant or cognizable and 84 is vague as no specific figure or polling units are pleaded as the margin of lead to be countered by the respondent,” the APC said.

The APC therefore prayed the tribunal to dismiss or strike out the petitioners’ petition for lack of merit.

Atiku and the PDP in the petition dated March 21, 2021 claimed that Tinubu’s victory was as a result of alleged malpractices and other irregularities, upon which they are seeking the nullification of his victory.

The respondents in the petition are the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Tinubu and the APC as 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively.

The petition is based on four major grounds amongst which are that Tinubu’s election is invalid by reason of non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.

The petition also alleged that the election was invalid because of corrupt practices.

Atiku and PDP stated that Tinubu was not duly elected by majority of lawful votes cast at the election. According to them, Tinubu was at the time of the election not qualified to contest the election.