April 13, 2023/CSL Research
The Presidential Candidates of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi, and the People’s democratic party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, have formally submitted their petitions challenging the process leading to the outcome of the Presidential Election held on 28 February 2023. The Independent National Electoral Commission announced Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the winner of the 2023 general elections. Tinubu was declared the winner after polling 8,794,726 votes, Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) finished second with 6,984,520 votes and Obi was third with 6,101,533 votes. But the result of the presidential election has since been rejected by some of the parties.
LP Peter Obi’s petition was based on several issues including the non-qualification of Asiwaju Tinubu due to his involvement in drug Trafficking. He noted that court papers from the United States had linked Tinubu to drug trafficking which eventually led to the forfeiture of the sum of US$460,000 to the American government. He also alleged that BolaTinubu failed to win most of the lawful votes cast in the election, while also failing to get 25% of the lawful votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. He also alleged that the election was conducted in substantial non-compliance with the provisions of the law, given that the independent national electoral commission (INEC) failed to transmit the electoral results to the IREV portal in real-time. The LP candidate urged the court to either declare him the president-elect, in the belief that he scored majority of the lawful votes during the election or nullify the entire election and order a fresh election.
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the PDP also filed his electoral petition citing the entire process that led to Tinubu’s emergence as president-elect as faulty and prayed the court to declare him the winner or issue a fresh election. In response to the petitions filed by the opposition parties, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) filed its reply, noting that the Labour Party lacked the necessary locus standi to initiate the suit against the outcome of the presidential election on the grounds that Peter Obi was still a member of the PDP at the time he was sponsored by the Labour Party. APC noted that the petitioners failed to supply facts in support of corrupt practices they claimed marred the 25 February presidential election. The APC urged the tribunal to dismiss the LP and Obi’s petition as lacking in merit and a waste of the court’s time.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) also came out strongly to defend the integrity of the elections, noting that the alleged infractions were not substantial enough to nullify the exercise. INEC also stated that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machine was not designed for real-time results transmission for collation purposes. As we approach the handover date, 29 May 2023, it is unlikely that the tribunal will reach a decision before the presidential inauguration day. We note that the chances of overturning a presidential election in Nigeria are relatively slim, as no presidential election has ever been overturned since the turn to democracy.
