Atiku Heads To Court Over Buhari’s Election Victory

The Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Nigeria’s main opposition party, Atiku Abubakar, will not concede the presidential election to President Muhammadu Buhari of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Naija News recalls that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC),  announced the final Presidential election results recorded in various states in the country on Tuesday night.

Based on INEC’s figures, President Buhari and his party, the APC defeated Abubakar and his party, the PDP, with a margin of 3,928,869 in Nigeria’s presidential election.

Few hours after the results were announced a report has emerged, saying that the PDP has assembled a team of lawyers to challenge the result in court.

The report which was filed by TheCable quoted sources as saying that Kanu Agabi, former attorney-general of the federation, is leading the team of lawyers that will challenge the result at the presidential election petitions tribunal of the federal court of appeal, Abuja.

Other members of the legal team, according to the report, are Joe Gadzama, who has always served as a lawyer to the party, and Chris Uche, among other senior advocates of Nigeria.

“We are currently collating evidence to challenge the results being announced by INEC. We have been asking them to give us the data of the card readers used in Borno, Yobe and Nasarawa states but they have so far refused. This is daylight robbery,” a PDP executive told TheCable.

“I can also tell you that Atiku will not make any call to Buhari to concede the election.”

Naija News learned that the legal team was inaugurated by Bukola Saraki, the director-general of the PDP presidential campaign, on Tuesday evening at the Legacy House, Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

The report said Abubakar could not attend the meeting as he was observing “bed rest”, according to source in the know.

It was gathered that the legal team had on Monday, summoned an emergency meeting to review complaints about the presidential election and decide on the way forward.

Meanwhile, Abubakar will not be the first defeated Presidential candidate to go to court as Buhari went to all the way to the supreme court when he lost the presidential elections in 2003, 2007 and 2011.

However, when Buhari won in 2015, his main challenger, the then incumpent President Goodluck Jonathan, conceded and did not challenge the result at the tribunal.