TRIBUNAL RULING: Atiku files appeal against Tinubu at Supreme Court
By KEMI KASUMU
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has finally filed his appeal at the Supreme Court of Nigeria (SCN), against Wednesday September 6, 2023 ruling of Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) in Abuja affirming election of Mr Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the February 25 election.
Tinubu contested in the election as presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), outcome of which Atiku was declared second by Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, and Mr Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) declared third.
In the 35-ground appeal lodged through his legal team of lawyers led by Chief Chris Uche (SAN), on Tuesday September 19, Atiku is praying the court to set aside the judgment of the Tribunal.
He told the apex court that the verdict of the Justice Haruna Tsammani-led five-member panel of the President Election Petition Court (PEPT), which dismissed his petition against the outcome of the presidential election, was not only perverse, but occasioned a grave miscarriage of justice against him.
The PDP candidate, who is a former Vice President, maintained that the PEPC panel erred in law, when it failed to nullify the presidential election on the grounds of non-compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022, even when evidence that was adduced before it, showed that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, acted in breach of extant laws and regulations guiding the conduct of elections.
He accused the PEPC of reaching its unanimous decision based on gross misconstruction and misrepresentation of provisions of both the 1999 Constitution, as amended, and the Electoral Act, 2022.
