Nigeria President-elect's victory challenged before tribunal

ABUJA, Nigeria

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi on Tuesday, March 21 filed his petitions to the presidential elections tribunal to challenge Bola Tinubu’s victory in the February 25 presidential election.

Peter Obi (pictured above) of the Labour Party came third in last month's poll behind Atiku Abubakar and victor Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress.

The petition, jointly filed by Obi and his party, has INEC, Tinubu, Shettima Kashim, and the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the respondents.

Here are the five prayers Obi and the Labour Party seek in their petition.

Obi and the Labour Party have requested five prayers in their petition, according to a report by local media reports.

Eligibility

Petitioners argue that Mr. Tinubu should not have been eligible to run for the top office, a spokesperson for Mr. Obi's presidential campaign told the BBC on Tuesday.

Obi’s lead lawyer, Livy Uzoukwu also argued that the president-elect “was not duly elected by majority of the lawful votes cast at the time of the election.”

25 % in FCT

Because Tinubu was declared winner of the election without securing 25% in the FCT, Obi, and the Labour Party want the tribunal to determine “that the 2nd Respondent (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.”

Election Cancellation

Obi and his Party also prayed the court to order the cancellation of the February 25 presidential election.

Fresh Election

In addition to the cancellation of the election, the LP candidate asked the court to compel INEC to conduct a fresh election.

Fresh election without Tinubu/Shettima

Obi prayed the tribunal to make an order that will ensure Tinubu and his running mate, Shettima do not participate in the fresh election.

Election disputes take months to be resolved in Nigeria, despite the constitution stipulating that they should be concluded, where possible before a candidate is sworn into office.

This year's election was the tightest presidential race since the end of military rule in 1999, but international observers said it lacked transparency and there were operational failures.