President Bola Tinubu has urged the Supreme Court to reject an appeal filed by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, seeking to annul his election victory. Tinubu, represented by a team of 17 lawyers, including 10 Senior Advocates of Nigeria, requested that the apex court uphold the Court of Appeal's decision to dismiss Atiku and the PDP's joint petition against him. He argued that he had been validly elected by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the winner of the presidential poll held on February 25.
Tinubu maintained that he received one-quarter (25%) of the total votes in 29 states of the federation, while Atiku and the PDP only managed to secure 25% of the total votes in 21 states, as opposed to the constitutional requirement of 24.7 states. He contended that INEC had no choice but to declare him as the winner of the presidential election.
He further stated that Atiku and the PDP brought "cooked up allegations" against him and failed to provide any facts in support of their claims. Tinubu argued that Atiku challenged his qualifications but also requested a runoff election in an alternative prayer in court, which suggested that Atiku believed he had won the election. Tinubu called on the Supreme Court to dismiss Atiku's appeal and affirm his election victory.
The Supreme Court has yet to set a date to begin hearing the presidential dispute
