Obi Files Petition Against Bola Tinubu’s Presidential Election Victory

Labour Party (LP)'s presidential candidate, Peter Obi has filed a petition to challenge the All Progressives Congress (APC)'s candidate Bola Tinubu's victory in the recently held presidential elections.

Obi, who said earlier this month that he would challenge the election results in the court, finally filed his petition in Abuja on Tuesday.

He mentioned in the petition that the election was not fair and there were several irregularities including Tinubu's non-qualification for the presidential election run, claiming that Tinubu has been involved in narcotics trafficking, Punch reported.

Obi also alleged that the senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Kashim Shettima, who was Tinubu's running mate during the elections, was also not eligible for this election.

Tinubu won the election with 8,794,726 votes while Obi came third as he secured 6,101,533 votes. People's Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Atiku Abubakar, who was also running for the presidential election, received 6,984,520 votes.

Obi has been provided with a window of 21 days of response before giving a hearing date on his petition, Dr. Yunusa Tanko revealed, who serves as Chief Spokesman of the Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Council.

"The tribunal has given 21 days of response. So, it is only after then that they can fix a date for the hearing," Tanko told Punch. "This (duration) is a legal procedure from the tribunal. We have shared a copy of the petition to keep the media abreast of development. I am sure we will get a hearing date after the 21 days."

The petition was filed four weeks after the election results were announced. A close source to the party told the outlet that the 61-year-old former governor of Anambra State prefers to have proper backup for the claims he put on Tinubu.

"You know Obi doesn't like talking without getting facts," the close source explained to the outlet. That's why he took his time before he officially filed his case at the tribunal."

The petition has been marked CA/PEPC/03/2023, in which LP and Obi have joined plaintiffs while Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Tinubu, Kashim and APC are 1st to 4th respondents.

Obi and PDP announced earlier this month that they are all set to fight a legal battle against the ruling party APC over presidential election results. In fact, on March 8, LP's National Secretary Umar Farouk disclosed that they have hired more than 20 Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) for a legal battle.

PDP also disclosed that they have also hired a bunch of high-profile SANs alongside a renowned Senior Advocate of Nigeria to drag Tinubu into court. However, PDP has not officially filed any petition yet.

As soon as the election results were announced, LP and PDP, both parties revealed in separate press conferences that they will challenge INEC's decision in court. INEC is responsible for overseeing Nigerian elections.