Six PDP governors drag federal government and Inec to Supreme Court over presidential elections

SIX Nigerian state governors have dragged the federal government to the Supreme Court over the conduct of the 2023 general elections which took place last Saturday demanding that the exercise be voided and the declaration of a winner nullified.

On February 25,. Nigerians went to the polls and after three days of counting, the Independent national Electoral Commission (Inec) declared former Lagos State governor Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the winner. He was declared the victor with 8,794,726  votes, defeating his nearest opponent, former vice president Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who came second with 6,984,520 votes.

However, six states controlled by the PDP have instituted legal action against Inec and the federal government asking the Supreme Court to declare that the pronouncement of Asiwaju Tinubu as the winner of the elections void. Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo and Sokoto states have filed a joint action, challenging the conduct, collation and announcement of the February 25  presidential and National Assembly elections.

They argued that the entire results of the presidential election announced by the Inec chairman at the National Collation Centre, Abuja, is in flagrant violation of the provisions of the Electoral Act. They also want a declaration that the non-uploading of the results of each of the 176,974 polling units nationwide, in respect of the presidential election and National Assembly Elections were not in accordance with the provisions of the Electoral Act.

However, the plaintiffs in the originating summons marked: SC/CV/354/2023 are specifically asking for an order of the apex court “directing a holistic review of all results so far announced by the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which were carried out other than through the manner prescribed by the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022, the INEC Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections, 2022; and the INEC Manual for Election Officials.

In the suit filed by their lawyer Mike Ozekhome, the governors claim that the agents and officials of the federal government and Inec, failed to transmit the collated results as prescribed by the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022. They added that the non-compliance with the due process of law has led to widespread agitation, violent protests, displeasure and disapproval from a wide spectrum of the Nigerian populace, including international observers, political parties, well-meaning Nigerians and former head of states.