Atiku file petition, asks tribunal to declare him winner or cancel presidential poll

Chidi Samuel|

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar and the party in the just concluded election on Monday filed a petition before the presidential election tribunal challenging President Muhammadu Buhari’s victory.

In the petition, Atiku is asking the tribunal to declare him authentic winner of the election or order that a fresh poll should be conducted.

Addressing newsmen in Abuja on Monday, Emmanuel Enoidem, PDP national legal adviser said that the party has asked the court to declare their candidate winner of the election.

Enoidem said, “We asked that our candidate who won the election massively across the country be declared the winner.

“In the alternative, we also asked that the election be set aside on the ground of irregularity which was apparent across the country.”

According to him, Atiku and the PDP have in their team 20 senior advocates of Nigeria (SAN) “so we are confident.”

“We have also lined up more than 400 witnesses that are going to testify in this petition,” he said.

Atiku and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rejected the result of the February 23 polls, following the declaration of President Muhammadu Buhari as the winner of the poll.

The election tribunal had earlier approved his request to be allowed access to materials used for the election. The court however blocked the party’s move to have the materials forensically examined.