‘Seun Ibukun-Oni, Abuja

 

DAILY COURIER – The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the February 25 election, Peter Obi, has filed his petition challenging the victory of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as Nigeria’s President-elect.

 

DAILY COURIER reports that Obi had scored 6,101,533 votes against the 8,794,726 votes polled by the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

 

But, making five-ground prayers in a petition filed on Tuesday, before the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) sitting at the Court of Appeal, Abuja, Obi asked the court to, among others, cancel the election and conduct a fresh poll.

 

The petition, jointly filed by Obi and the Labour Party as co-petitioners, joined the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Tinubu, Shettima Kashim (Vice President-elect), and the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the respondents.

 

In the certified true copy of the petition seen by DAILY COURIER, the petitioners, represented by a team of lawyers led by Livy Ozoukwu (SAN) want the court to hold that “at the time of the presidential election held on 25 February, 2023,” Messrs Tinubu and Shettima “were not qualified to contest the election.”

 

They also want the court “to determine that all the votes recorded for” Mr Tinubu “in the election are wasted votes, owing to the non-qualification” of the President-elect and Mr Shettima.”

 

“That it be determined that the 2nd Respondent (Mr Tinubu), having failed to score one-quarter of the votes cast at the Presidential Election in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, was not entitled to be declared and returned as the winner of the presidential election held on 25 February, 2023.”

 

Obi prayed the tribunal to make “an order cancelling the election and compelling the 1st respondent (INEC) to conduct a fresh election at which the 2nd Respondent (Tinubu), 3rd respondent (Shettima) and 4th respondent (APC) shall not participate.”