Politics

Atiku, Obi: We’ll challenge tribunal’s judgement at Supreme Court

The presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and Peter Obi Labour Party (LP), say they would appeal the judgement delivered by the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) at the Supreme Court.

The PEPC, on Wednesday, September 6, 2023, affirmed the election of President Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and dismissed the petitions of Obi and Atiku for being unmeritorious and lacking in substance.

Speaking to newsmen shortly after the judgement, the counsel for Atiku, Chris Uche (SAN), said his team had requested a copy of the judgement in order to fast-track the process of appeal.

Uche disclosed that Atiku directed that the appeal against the decision of the court be filed immediately.

The lawyer said the PEPC might have delivered judgement but his client did not get justice in his quest to prove that the February 25 election was marred by malpractices, irregularities, and corruption.

In the same vein, counsel for Obi, Livy Uzoukwu (SAN), told journalists that his client would appeal the judgement at the Supreme Court.

Uzoukwu said it was beyond him why the court had ruled against the live broadcast of proceedings at the hearing of his client’s petition only to allow the same during the judgement.

The chairman of the five-member panel of the PEPC, Justice Haruna Tsammani, told the petitioners that clean copies of the judgements would be released to them on Thursday, September 7.

The Star recalls that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on March 1, 2023, announced that Tinubu won the presidential election ahead of 17 other candidates who participated in the election.

It declared that Tinubu scored 8,794,726 votes to defeat the two major contenders – Atiku of the PDP, who came second with 6,984,520 votes, and Obi of the Labour Party, who came third with 6,101,533 votes.

However, dissatisfied with the outcome of the election, both Atiku and Obi approached the court to invalidate it.

The duo, in their separate petitions, claimed that they won the presidential poll, as they challenged Tinubu’s eligibility to contest the election.

The petitioners prayed the court to nullify the election and order a fresh presidential election, with the exclusion of President Tinubu whom they argued was not qualified to participate.

The Star