INEC’s Admission Stands: Atiku urges Tribunal to declare him winner in 21 states
The Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has submitted a request to the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, urging them to uphold the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) declaration that he won in 21 states during the February 25 presidential election.
Atiku made this plea in his final address filed on July 20 at the Presidential Election Petitions Court. The address supported his joint petition with the PDP, aiming to nullify INEC’s declaration of Bola Tinubu as the winner of the poll.
In the final address prepared by his lead counsel, Chris Uche SAN, Atiku pointed out that INEC’s claim of his victory in 21 states remained undisputed, unchallenged, and uncorrected throughout the tribunal proceedings.
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INEC had responded to Atiku’s petition by stating that the PDP’s presidential candidate had won 21 states in the federation during the last presidential election.
The states listed by INEC as won by Atiku and the PDP included Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Borno, Delta, Ekiti, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Osun, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe, and Zamfara.
Atiku emphasized that since INEC acknowledged his victory in these states and did not refute or counter this assertion during the tribunal proceedings, the tribunal should uphold this declaration.
In part, the final written address read: “Very importantly, the 1st Respondent (INEC) who conducted the election made an open admission in paragraph 18 of its Reply to the Petition, where it unequivocally stated thus: ‘The 1st Respondent further avers that in compliance with extant laws and regulations, it diligently discharged its duties when it collated the 1st Petitioner’s (Atiku) scores at the election which aggregates to 6,984,520 winning only 21 states to wit: Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Borno, Delta, Ekiti, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Osun, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe, and Zamfara.'”
“Indeed, as admitted by the 1st Respondent (INEC), the 1st Petitioner (Atiku) won in these 21 states. It is important to note that throughout the trial, the 1st Respondent (INEC) neither refuted nor countermanded this critical averment nor denied it.”
Atiku’s legal team argued that this admission by INEC constituted an admission against interest and required no further evidence.
They further alleged that INEC manipulated the election results through the deliberate bypass of the electronic transmission system, leading to the wrongful declaration of Bola Tinubu as the winner.
Consequently, Atiku requested the tribunal to confirm INEC’s assertion and declare him the winner of the February 25 presidential election.
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