Atiku Obi APM cases against Tinubu tribunal will decide on September 6

Over five months after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Bola Tinubu the winner of the 2023 presidential election, the election tribunal is set to announce judgements on the petitions filed by his opponents.

INEC's handling of the electronic transmission of the polling units results cast a shadow over the election and has become a burden on Tinubu's legitimacy.

Bola Tinubu has already been sworn in as president, but he still faces legal challenges from his opponents [Presidency] Pulse Nigeria

Atiku Abubakar of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), who finished second and third respectively, have challenged the result, each claiming they won instead.

The Allied People's Movement (APM) is the other lesser-known party still standing in the pursuit of invalidating the official result of the February 25 election.

These are the cases they've presented before the presidential election petition tribunal.

People's Democratic Party (PDP)

Atiku Abubakar believes he won the 2023 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

Peter Obi believes he won the 2023 presidential election [Kin Cheung/AP] 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 Lagos 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.

ALSO READ: These 5 tribunal judges will decide petitions against Tinubu

Allied People's Movement (APM)

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

The nomination of Kashim Shettima as Tinubu's running mate is the bedrock of the APM's tribunal case against him [Presidency] Pulse Nigeria

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.

ALSO READ: How long does it take to resolve a presidential election petition?