Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the former Vice President and candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the last presidential election, on Friday, filed a lawsuit berating Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for defending the credentials of president-elect Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. Atiku said it was a mistake for the electoral body to throw its weight behind the president-elect whose election victory was in Court. The second-placed PDP candidate in the February 25 presidential election accused INEC of acting as a shield to Mr. Tinubu, Atiku’s team of lawyers led by Chief Chris Uche, SAN, appealed to the Presidential Election Petitions Court in Abuja to dismiss the Counter affidavit and preliminary objection filed by the Commission challenging his petition.
According to Atiku, INEC lacked the legal capacity to defend the controversy surrounding Tinubu’s education, age, and alleged drug-related charges in the United States.
He argued that INEC, as the arbitrator who conducted the election, should remain neutral.
At the resumed proceedings in the matter, Atiku’s lawyers notified the Court that there were seven pending applications, among which he said included the one that INEC sought the striking out of 32 paragraphs of the petition relating to Tinubu’s qualifications.
Atiku’s lead lawyer asked the Court not only to dismiss INEC’s preliminary appeal but also to declare it a severe abuse of court proceedings.
“All that INEC has done is to ask for averments that were against Tinubu to be struck out. INEC is fighting a proxy war for Tinubu, which a neutral umpire is not expected to do. This is very wrong my lords,” Atiku’s attorney added.
However, the first defendant in the matter, INEC, through its legal team led by Mr. Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN, requested the Court to either delete the above paragraph or dismiss the petition entirely on incompetence.
cc: Vanguard Ng
