5 political parties challenge Tinubu's election victory in court

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the former Lagos governor winner amid controversy over the transmission and collation of the results from across the country.

Tinubu won 8,794,726 votes ahead of Atiku Abubakar of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), who won 6,984,520 votes, and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) who won 6,101,533 votes. Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) finished fourth with 1,496,687 votes.

14 other candidates were on the ballot but none of them scored more than 82,000 votes.

Five of the losing political parties have filed separate cases before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal to address their specific issues.

People's Democratic Party (PDP)

PDP candidate, Atiku Abubakar, finished second behind Tinubu in the February 25 presidential election [PDP] Pulse Nigeria

The PDP filed a petition before the tribunal to declare Atiku as the real winner of the election because he was allegedly robbed at the polls.

The petition invalidated Tinubu's victory based on INEC's failure to comply with its own guideline to electronically transmit results in real time. The party and its candidate claimed Tinubu did not meet the constitutional spread required to be declared winner, and that his margin of victory wasn't clear enough and should have at least forced a supplementary election.

The PDP also accused INEC's electoral officers of suppressing Atiku's votes and re-allocating them to Tinubu and Obi.

Atiku, a former vice-president, asked the tribunal to either declare him the lawful winner of the election, order a run-off election with just him and Tinubu, or order a fresh round of election.

Labour Party (LP)

LP candidate, Peter Obi, finished third in the 2023 presidential election [Kin Cheung/AP Photo] Pulse Nigeria

The LP's petition asked the tribunal to overturn the result of the election because Tinubu was not qualified to contest due to his drugs case in the United States. The former governor forfeited $460,000 to the U.S. government in 1993 after funds found in bank accounts linked to him were identified as proceeds of drugs trafficking.

The petition also argued that INEC violated the integrity of the election by not sticking to its promise to transmit results in real time, creating room for the alleged manipulation of the votes scored by the LP in 18,088 polling units.

The party accused INEC of reducing, tampering and falsely representing its actual number of votes especially in Benue and Rivers where it argued that it won, contrary to INEC's result claiming APC won both states.

The LP argued in the petition that a proper calculation of the lawful votes cast on February 25 would show that Obi won the election.

Obi, a former Anambra governor, asked the tribunal to either order INEC to declare him the real winner of the election, or conduct a fresh election without Tinubu's involvement, due to his disqualification.

Allied People's Movement (APM)

APM candidate, Princess Ojei Chichi, finished in 13th place in the February election [APM] Pulse Nigeria

In its own petition, the Allied People's Movement (APM) opposed the APC's process of nominating Kashim Shettima as Tinubu's running mate.

In 2022, the ruling party initially submitted Ibrahim Masari's name to INEC as its vice-presidential candidate, but only as a placeholder, to beat a submission deadline, while it continued consultation for who would eventually occupy the role. Weeks later, Masari expectedly withdrew from the race to pave the way for Shettima's place on the presidential ticket.

APM also noted that Shettima was a senatorial candidate at the time of his nomination, allegedly making him guilty of double nomination which is against the provisions of the constitution and the Electoral Act.

The party argued that these irregularities made Tinubu's victory invalid due to non-compliance with the relevant laws. The party asked the tribunal to void all the votes scored by APC and announce second-placed Atiku as the authentic winner of the election.

The APM's presidential candidate, Princess Ojei Chichi, finished 13th in the race with 25,961 votes.

Action Alliance (AA)

AA's presidential candidate, Hamza Al-Mustapha, finished in 17th place, but a faction of the party has rejected his candidacy [Vanguard] Pulse Nigeria

The Action Alliance (AA) petitioned the tribunal to cancel the presidential election because INEC excluded its validly-elected candidate.

In the lead-up to the election, the party suffered a leadership crisis that created two factions which produced two different presidential candidates: Hamza Al-Mustapha and Solomon-David Okanigbuan.

Al-Mustapha represented the party on February 25 and finished with 14,542 votes, but the Okanigbuan faction has petitioned the tribunal to argue that the former chief security officer of the late General Sani Abacha shouldn't have made it to the ballot.

The party noted in its petition that it submitted Okanigbuan as its candidate for the election, but INEC ignored its wishes.

The petition argued that Okanigbuan's unlawful exclusion renders the February 25 election null and void, and asked the court to order a fresh election.

Action People's Party (APP)

APP's presidential candidate, Nnadi Charles Osita, finished last at the polls Pulse Nigeria

The Action People's Party (APP) petitioned the tribunal to accuse Tinubu of manipulating the presidential election in at least 11 states. The party said the winner made corrupt arrangements with electoral officers in Kano, Kaduna, Imo, Rivers, Kebbi, Oyo, Ogun, Ekiti, Osun, Kogi and Kwara to swing the result in his favour.

The party and its presidential candidate, Charles Nnadi, who finished last in the election with 12,839 votes, also accused Tinubu of openly buying votes in many polling units across the country. The former governor's age and educational qualifications were also called into question with allegations of fraud.

The petition also accused INEC of non-compliance with the guidelines and regulations on electronic transmission of results.

The party asked the court to order a fresh election.

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