VANGUARD
A former Vice President and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has asked the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, sitting in Abuja, to declare that he won the presidential election held on February 25, in 21 states.
Atiku, in a final written address he filed through his team of lawyers led by Chief Chris Uche, SAN, said his claim was based on a reply the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, filed in response to the petition he filed to nullify President Bola Tinubu’s election.
He contended that the electoral body, in its own final brief of argument, neither disputed, retracted, debunked nor claimed that the averment it made in its reply, was in error.
Atiku told the court that INEC had in its reply to his petition, confirmed him as the winner of the presidential contest in Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Borno, Delta, Ekiti, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Osun, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara state.
The former Vice President argued that since the electoral body, in its process, asserted that he won the election in 21 states and since it did not rebut the assertion throughout the proceedings, the court should proceed to uphold the declaration.
Atiku’s final written address, read in part: “Very importantly, the 1st Respondent (INEC) who conducted the election, made an open admission in paragraph 18 of its Reply to the petition, where it unequivocally stated thus:
“The 1st Respondent further avers that in compliance with extant laws and regulations, it diligently discharged its duties when it collated the 1st Petitioner’s scores at the
election which aggregates to 6,984,520 winning only 21 States to wit: Adamawa, Akwa Ibom. Bauchi. Bavelsa. Borno, Delta, Ekiti, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Katsina. Kebbi. Kogi. Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Osun, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara.”
“Indeed, as admitted by the 1st Respondent (INEC), the 1st Petitioner (Atiku) won in these 21 States.
“It is important to note that throughout the trial, the ist Respondent (INEC) neither refuted nor countermanded this critical averment nor denied it.
“We urge your Lordship to hold that this constitutes an admission that requires no further proof. It also constitutes an admission against interest.
“The 1st Petitioner contested election to the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria under the platform of the 2nd Petitioner, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which held on 25th February 2023, along with 17 other candidates, including the 2nd Respondent (Tinubu), who was the candidate of the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), in whose favour the electoral body, the ‘Independent’ National Electoral Commission (INEC) manipulated the technologies earlier put in place to ensure transparency, and wrongfully returned the said 2nd Respondent as winner at about 4.00am on is March 2023, at a time the 1st Respondent admitted that substantial percentage of the results had not to be transmitted to the collation system for verification as required by law.
