Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Tuesday filed an appeal at the Supreme Court challenging the appeal court’s decision to uphold President Bola Tinubu’s election.
Mr Abubakar, who was candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the Feb. 25 poll, said in his appeal that the presidential election tribunal erred in law “when it failed to nullify the presidential election … on the ground of non-compliance” with the electoral law.
The five-member tribunal on September 6 dismissed petitions filed by Mr Abubakar and Labour Party candidate Peter Obi against Mr Tinubu’s election.
No merit
The court said claims that the election that brought Mr Tinubu were fraudulent lacked merit.
The election was the most fiercely contested since the end of military rule in 1999, with three strong candidates for the first time. Mr Tinubu won with 37% of votes cast, against 29% for Mr Abubakar and 25% for Mr Obi.
Lead justice Haruna Tsammani said the petitioners failed to prove allegations of corrupt practices and over-voting.
The panel also said the electoral commission Inec was not bound to transmit results electronically and the failure to upload the photographic copies of polling unit results in real time did not invalidate the election.
“Miscarriage of justice”
In his appeal, Mr Abubakar through his lawyer Chris Uche raised 35 grounds against the appeal court ruling, describing it as “grave error and miscarriage of justice.”
He also accused the court of bias, demonstrated in its use of “disparaging words”, according to Premium Times, citing court papers.
Mr Obi is also expected to file an appeal as the 14-day deadline expires Wednesday.
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