INEC, Tinubu, APC seek dismissal of APM’s petition against presidential election

The Allied People’s Movement (APM) has filed a petition with the Presidential Election Petition Court challenging the announcement that Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have been declared the winners of the presidential election that took place on February 25, 2023. The APM has asked the court to dismiss the petition in its entirety.

Tinubu, who was deemed the winner of the election, as well as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which was in charge of running the election, testified before the court on Thursday in Abuja, claiming that the petition was grossly incompetent, lacked focus, and lacked legal direction.

INEC, which was the first organization to challenge the legitimacy of the petition, insisted that the petition did not reveal any reasonable cause of action.

During the proceedings on Thursday, the attorney representing INEC, Abubakar Mahmoud SAN, gave the impression that the petition’s sole purpose was to waste the valuable time of the court.

Tinubu and Kashim Shetima, who were both represented by Chief Akin Olujimi SAN, argued that the petition was pointless and that time and effort should not be wasted on it. Tinubu’s argument was supported by Kashim Shetima.

Olujimi SAN argued that the petition presented by the APM lacked focus as well as a clear direction, and he demanded that the petition be completely dismissed.

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The APC, which was represented by Chief Adeniyi Akintola SAN, made a similar demand for the petition to be either struck out or completely dismissed, primarily on the grounds that it was filed incompetently.

The political party that was declared the victor in the presidential election insisted that virtually all laws relating to election petitions, including the Election Judicial Procedure Practice Direction 2022, had been broken, which rendered the petition toothless and consequently rendered the petition moot.

On the other hand, the attorney for the party, Mr. Salihu Abubakar, insisted that the petition was in compliance with all of the legal requirements, and he asked the court to disregard the request for the dismissal of the petition.

Abubakar, who vehemently defended the petition’s legal standing, told the court that the respondents’ objections to the petition were not laid out in line with the provisions of the electoral laws. Abubakar’s argument was that the petition was valid.

After hearing arguments from the various parties involved in the petition, the Chairman of the Court, Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani, decided to postpone ruling on the matter indefinitely.