Tinubu seeks dismissal of Atiku’s petition for constituting abuse of court processes

The President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on Thursday, described the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and the party against his victory in the February 25 election as “a gross abuse of court processes.”

Tinubu stated this in a reply to the petition presented through his team of lawyers led by Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) at the sitting of the presidential election petition tribunal in Abuja.

In a preliminary objection marked: CA/PEPC/05/2023, the former Lagos State governor urged the court to dismiss the entire petition for lack of merit.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on March 1 declared Tinubu as the winner of the election having polled 8,794,726 votes to defeat Atiku and 16 other candidates in the exercise.

The PDP candidate finished in second place with 6,984,520 votes while the Labour Party flag bearer, Peter Obi, garnered 6,101,533 votes to end up in third position.

Atiku and the PDP had in the petition asked the tribunal to set aside Tinubu’s victory and declare him the winner of the election.

In the alternative, they urged the panel to order a fresh election without the APC and its candidate.

Responding, Tinubu argued that the entire petition constituted an abuse of court processes.

He said the petitioners, in another case before the Supreme Court, are also asking for the same reliefs as in the instant petition.

He said the originating summons dated February 28 was filed by six states controlled by the PDP against the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), INEC, and others.

READ ALSO: Atiku accuses Tinubu of ‘hypocrisy’ on election conduct, condemns voter intimidation in Lagos

He said the Attorneys-General of Sokoto, Adamawa, Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, and Edo are plaintiffs in the case.

The president-elect said: “Most if not all the issues the plaintiffs submitted for determination in the said originating summons are repeated in the present petition.

“In the main, the originating summons sought the setting aside of the presidential election held on 25th February 2023.

“The plaintiffs attacked INEC for not following its Manual and Regulations in the conduct of the election and also complained of glitches, which is also the thrust of their petition.

“While the originating summons was filed on February 28, this petition was filed on March 21.”

Tinubu, who said the petitioners are maintaining two processes in respect of the same subject, urged the court to dismiss the petition.

He insisted that the grounds of the petition were incompetent, hence, the court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain them.

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