March 22 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The candidate of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the presidential elections held on February 25 in Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, has filed a lawsuit in court to request the annulment of the results, in which he came second, behind the government candidate and now president-elect, Bola Tinubu.
Abubakar has indicated that the elections were “invalid” because “the clauses of the 2022 Electoral Law were not complied with” and has denounced that Tinubu “was not duly elected by a majority of the legal votes cast during the elections,” according to The Nigerian newspaper ‘Vanguard’ has reported.
Thus, he has stated that the candidate of the Congress of All Progressives (APC) “was not qualified to stand in the elections”, in line with the arguments presented on Tuesday in his lawsuit by the Labor Party candidate, Peter Obi, who was left in third place and also affirms that he was victorious at the polls.
Thus, a total of four opponents — Obi, Abubakar, the Action Alliance candidate Solomon Okangbuan; and the candidate of the People’s Allied Movement, Chichi Ojei– have filed lawsuits in court to demand the annulment and repetition of the presidential elections in the African country.
The APC candidate defended last week that he won “fair and credible” elections and stressed that “this is not the time for acrimony and recrimination”, amid complaints from several opposition candidates about irregularities. Thus, he defended the right of the rest of the candidates to go to the justice system, while showing his commitment to “work for the benefit of the entire population, whether or not they voted” for his candidacy.
Tinubu will replace Muhammadu Buhari, who was unable to run as he has already served the term limit set by the Nigerian Constitution. The elections also mark the first time since the return of the country to civilian rule in 1999 in which none of the candidates is a former military leader, as was the case with Buhari, who led the country between December 1983 and August. 1985 after a coup.
