The Presidential Election Petition Court sitting at the Court of Appeal in Abuja on Wednesday dismissed the petition filed by the Action Peoples Party (APP) challenging the declaration of Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the February 25 presidential election.
When the petition was called on Tuesday, counsel to the APP, Mr. Obed Agu informed the court of the party’s motion on notice dated March 9, 2023, seeking the withdrawal of the petition is filed against Tinubu’s election.
According to Agu, the motion on notice was brought pursuant to paragraph 29(1)(2)(3)(4) of the schedule for an election petition.
The petitioner, he said, prays the court to grant it leave to withdraw its petition numbered, CA/PEPC/02/2023 as well as an order striking out the petition, having been withdrawn.
Counsel to the respondents, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) for Tinubu, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) for the APC, and Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN) for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) did not object to the application for the withdrawal of the petition, neither did they ask for cost.
Ruling on the application, Justice Haruna Tsammani, heading the five-member panel of Justices of the court said, “Having considered the application and response of the respondents, we are satisfied that there was no collision on the part of the respondents, the petition numbered, CA/PEPC/02/2023 is hereby dismissed, having been withdrawn”.
APP which has Hon Osita Charles Nnadi and Hon Isah Hamisu Kero Dandume as its validly nominated presidential and vice presidential candidates, joined Tinubu, APC, and INEC as respondents.
In its petition, the party claimed that Tinubu’s election was invalid by reason of corrupt practices, vote buying, over voting, falsification/alterations and mutilation of election results, among others, which irregularities substantially affected the outcome of the election, such that Tinubu was not entitled to be returned elected as the president-elect.
The party and its presidential candidate claimed that Tinubu was not qualified to stand for the said election having knowingly supplied false information to INEC in his nomination form, which thereby disqualified him from the election.
They also state that the election and declaration of results made by INEC were invalid by reason of non-compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022.
APP, which scored 12,839 votes in the election said Tinubu knowingly submitted to INEC in his form CF001 stating on oath that he was born in 1952 whereas all his educational documents show otherwise.
That the president-elect does not meet the educational qualification for election into the office of the president as at the time of his election and that Tinubu did not score the majority of lawful votes cast at the election, adding that the votes of 8,796,726 ascribed to him was a result of corrupt practices, vote buying, over voting, falsification/alteration and mutilation of results.
They pray the court to hold that the declaration of Tinubu as the winner of the election is invalid, null, and void.
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