A five-member panel of the Presidential Election Petition Court led by Haruna Tsammani, on 6 September, dismissed Atiku’s petition challenging Mr Tinubu’s election.
The court had held that Atiku and the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, failed to prove in their separate suits allegations of electoral fraud against Nigeria’s electoral commission, INEC and Mr Tinubu.
But Atiku and Mr Obi vowed to appeal the outcome of the suits at the apex court.
In a notice of appeal premised on 35 grounds, Atiku through his team of lawyers, led by Chris Uche, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), argued that the PEPC’s judgement occasioned “grave error and miscarriage of justice” in its legal reasoning by upholding Mr Tinubu as president.
In court filings dated 18 September at the Supreme Court, Mr Uche contended that the presidential election court failed to adequately evaluate his Atiku’s evidence before reaching its conclusions.
The lawyer faulted the court’s use of “disparaging words” against Atiku which “evinced bias.”
In another ground of the appeal, Mr Uche drew the apex court’s attention to the lower court’s conclusions on the grounds that it “did not represent the true picture of the grounds of his petition” during trial.
He further contended that amongst other issues that the presidential election court erred in law when it “failed to nullify the presidential election held on February 25, 2023 on the grounds of non-compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022, when by evidence before the tribunal, INEC conducted the election based on grave and gross misrepresentation contrary to the principles of the Electoral Act 2022, based on the “doctrine of legitimate expectation.”
Atiku prayed the Supreme Court to grant his appeal.
In addition, the appellant urged the court to set aside the decision of the lower which affirmed Mr Tinubu’s victory.
He urged the court to declare that Mr Tinubu did not secure majority of lawful votes cast during the presidential election on 25 February, 2023.
The former Vice President also prayed the court to hold that Mr Tinubu was not qualified to vie for Nigeria’s Presidency at the time he did on account of his conviction in the US for alleged drugs trafficking.
Mr Obi is expected to file his own appeal before the 14 days window from the day of judgement as set by law closes.
culled from Premium Times Nigeria
