Atiku Didn’t Meet Conditions To Win, INEC Tells Tribunal
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has made known to the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) that Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, did not meet the constitutional requirements to be declared winner of the February 25 election.
INEC urged the court to dismiss the petition.
According to INEC, the election was conducted in substantial compliance with the Electoral Act 2022 and was not marred by any corrupt practices.
INEC in its response to the petition by the PDP and Atiku revealed that “The first petitioner (Atiku), failed to score, at least, one-quarter of the votes cast in at least two-thirds of the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and as such could not have been declared the winner.”
It added that the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, validly won the election.
INEC filed the response on April 11 by its legal team led by the former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN).
Tinubu, listed as the second respondent, scored 25% of the valid votes cast in 29 states of the federation, making the declaration and return of the second respondent constitutionally valid.
The commission also argued that a candidate need not secure 25% of votes in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to be declared the winner and that FCT does not have special status separate from the other states in the country.
The provisions of the Constitution apply to FCT as if it were one of the states.
INEC argued that “the FCT is regarded as the 37th state of the federation and as such, a candidate needs to score 25 per cent of the valid votes cast in at least two-thirds of 37 states to be declared as winner in the presidential election.”
The commission stated that the election was conducted in substantial compliance with the Electoral Act 2022 and was not marred by any corrupt practices.
INEC added that by the margin of the lead, it did not act hastily, as claimed by Atiku and the PDP in declaring Tinubu the winner.
INEC in its response urged the court to dismiss the petition by Atiku and his party since the petitioners neither scored the majority of the lawful votes cast at the election nor scored less than one-quarter of the lawful votes cast in at least two-thirds of the 36 states of the Federation and FCT.
The commission said the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate met all legal requirements to be declared the winner.
Furthermore, INEC added that by the provision of the Constitution, the FCT has the status of a state and ought to be recognized as if it were a state of the federation.
